nothing like the fairytales
by whizz
Summary: One way or another Seifer found his way back into Leon's life - maybe it was destiny, maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe the fighter within Seifer was just too stubborn to leave the past he himself doesn't quite remember alone -- Seifer/Leon/Seifer
1. oo1

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

* * *

Despite countless protests and various arguments to why he shouldn't come, Seifer found himself seated by the huge window inside of the Gummi ship, his beanie drawn low across his forehead as if his intentions were to shield his eyes from the rest of the world.

Needless to say, Seifer was _not _happy.

"Aw, c'mon, lighten up! It'll be _fun_!" Sora tried to cheer him up with that trademark-grin of his, wiggling his fist a little in the air. Seifer just snorted.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Don't mind him. He's probably pissed off because he couldn't bring his lackeys.." Hayner drawled from the seat opposite of the blonde thug, smug grin stretched across his lips.

By 'lackeys' he meant Rai, Fuu and Vivi; Seifer's closest friends and the most important people on his crew, also known as the self-proclaimed 'Disciplinary Committeé'.

Seifer regarded him with an intense glare that would send weaker men crying to their mommies.

"Shut up, chickenwuss."

And there really was nothing more to say; Hayner obviously wouldn't want to argue with him once he got into one of his infamous mood swings.

Seifer huffed, mostly to himself, and let his pale blue orbs slide close. He could already feel a headache coming up; why in the _hell _had he agreed to do this, again?

Oh yeah. Sora had shown up yet again in _Seifer's _town with that personality so troublesome that it had to be rare; all hyper and bouncing and absolutely clueless.

He had babbled on about something or another, and in Seifer's head the dialogue (that he had accidentally overheard when he was passing by chickenwuss' little gang) had gone something like this;

"_Blah-blah-_hearts-_blah-blah-_light-_blah-blaha-_Kairi-_blahety-blahaty-_help", and then, out of nowhere, "will you do it, Seifer?"

And then those impossibly blue eyes were suddenly piercing him, pleading with him with the puppy-look of Doom.

"..What?" the blonde had eventually managed, eyes narrowed to slits as Fuu and Rai drew up next to him, eyeing the group of teens sceptically.

"Well, you see, Hollow Bastion's been invaded by Heartless again, and there's, well, super-many of them! Leon and the others are doing a nice job fighting them off, of course, but they just keep increasing in numbers and they need all help they can get. So, um, I went to ask these guys if they were willing to help out, and.. well, you're a good fighter! I should know since I beat you once-"

_Ouch. _That had stung, to say the least; the kid was about a head shorter than Seifer and his muscles were visibly smaller, and yet it was the truth; Seifer _had _gotten smashed by the spiky-head and that huge key of his.

"-so, um, it would be really nice if you could come, too! I know that you have no connection to Hollow Bastion but there's a chance the Heartless will move to here when they're done, so, we should stop them while we can and.. well, will you do it, Seifer?"

Right. _That _was how he had ended up here; without his friends, no less! Apparently the Gummi Ship could only take that many passengers - not even the entire chickenwuss crew was able to go; just Hayner.

Hot-headed, obnoxious, annoying Hayner.

Riku, some mysterious and not-so-talkative guy who Sora had presented as his best friend sat next to him, head leaning against the window and eyes focused and interested.

Kairi, the girl he had heard so much about since Sora's last visit was there too, all smiles and warmth and pink fluffiness, currently engaging everyone in some discussion.

Seifer didn't fit in here, with these people that were so well-accustomed with each other - it made him think of a home, of a family, of something that he most definitely _lacked._

The blonde crossed his arms sternly and figured that this was the time for a nap; he already looked forward to getting this shit overwith so that he could return to Twilight Town, where his trusting allies waited for him; expected him. The town could never run as smoothly without him there.

"We're landing in about thirty minutes", Kairi announced, clasping her hands together and flashing a good-hearted smile, and that was all Seifer needed.

He pulled the beanie down over his eyes and welcomed the all too inviting darkness.

* * *

"Whoa. It's.."

Kairi searched for the right word as she let her azure gaze travel from the numerous holes decorating the tall buildings, to the burnt gardens and huge boulders scattered about the alleys.

Every window was nailed shut with worn-out pieces of wood and there was not a soul in sight; everything was much too quiet.

"I know", Sora pouted, eyebrows knitted together in worry as he led their little group towards an empty street, ducking under the street lamp that had been bent in the middle and was now balancing dangerously close to their heads.

Seifer scrunched his face up in a frown. What the hell?

Sora eventually approached something that looked like a basement belonging to a faded apartment. He gently knocked on the door four times.

It slid open, and the smell of curry and chicken hit Seifer, a very warm and tantalizing scent.

"Oh, come in, dears! You must be tired from the trip! How are you all? I made extra portions for everyone since I didn't know how many you'd be.. come in, come in!" a girl with a motherly smile and gracious emerald eyes sing-sang, her long hair tied back into a braid that reached her hip with a big pink bow.

"Long time no see, Aerith!" Kairi smiled as she hugged the older girl.

"Ah, yes, indeed. Oh, and you brought a new friend, I see?" the girl's attention shifted to Seifer's well-built frame, and he frowned out of reflex. He never really liked other people inspecting him or judging him by first impressions.

But her smile was genuine and radiating as she took his hand (that was several sizes bigger than hers) in her her own and shook it once, gently.

"Welcome to our home, it's nice meeting you!"

_Home. _There was that word again. Why was everyone so insistent on constantly reminding Seifer of what he did not possess?

But he couldn't be rude to this girl; she didn't deserve it. He quite liked her, actually, even though her generous eyes seemed to shoot rays of pureness all over him, itching and getting under his skin; it was like being healed, and he couldn't stand it.

"Yeah", he croaked out, training his gaze on the ground as he stepped inside and allowing the girl - _Aerith, _Kairi had called her - to put all of the five locks back into place with a _click.  
_

Inside, it was nice and cozy and not at all dirty and stained like he had expected to judging from the outside of the building. Mats were covering the floor and pictures hung upon the walls. There were furniture scattered in every room - what, they had _rooms _in here? So maybe it wasn't a basement..

"C'mon, dickhead, we're all waiting for you!" Hayner's impatient cry came from what he assumed was the kitchen. As he stepped inside, he could see that everyone was seated by a long table, and the scent of food from before got stronger. He let his eyes travel from the kettles and bowls filled with salad, bread, meat, dessert and then his eyes slipped back to Hayner.

"It's only natural to wait for the ones you look up to, chickenwuss", he replied out of habit, not really putting much emotion behind the statement; their daily baits were starting to bore him out.

"Wha- I don-"

And then something else caught Seifer's gaze as he spotted a man with blonde, spiky hair by the end of the table. His eyes were colored a bright blue, shining quite enchantingly, almost as if they were mixed with some magical liquid. He didn't say a word, but his gaze was very weary and his muscular arms crossed over his chest.

There was another man that looked a whole lot older than any of them, broad shoulders and a stubble'd chin. A cigarette was hanging loosely out of the corner of his mouth as he watched the food eagerly.

"Hey, we haven't introduced ourselves to the newcomer!" a girl suddenly squealed to his left, and when he turned around he caught sight of her bouncing form, the smile she wore almost splitting her face in half.

"I'm Yuffie, the Great Ninja!" she then exclaimed proudly, winking at him as she walked towards the table.

"The grumpy old man there is Cid, the sulky Chocoboo-head is Cloud, and that's Aerith!" she emphasized this by pointing to every one of them. All of the others looked used to the high-pitched rampage she was causing and no one reacted, except for Sora who seemed embarrassed over the fact that he forgot to introduce Seifer to everyone.

Another sound could be heard, like heavy boots clinking down onto the floor as another door opened and closed, a gruff voice speaking up.

"I'm here", was muttered.

"You're _late_!" Yuffie accused, placing her hands onto her hips as she turned to face the man. Seifer followed everyone else's gazes and he saw-

(brown shaggy hair, tanned and battle-bruised skin, a lean and visibly strong body, eyes the color of the sky moments before a huge storm breaks out, a _scar-_)

"Who's this?" the man demanded, one unimpressed eyebrow arching as he laid eyes upon Seifer. For some reason, it aggravated the young man and he growled low in his throat.

"I'm Seifer Almasy, leader of Twilight Town's Disciplinary Committeé! Who're _you, _old man?"

And the brunet's eyes widened to a size that seemed way too uncharacteristic for a brief second before they returned to normal.

* * *

My first time doing anything other than a oneshot. I know this pairing doesn't have many supporters, but I'm really diggin' them, so, yeah.

I'm not planning this to be very long but at least a few chapters - then again, you never know with me. It might as well turn out to be 25 chapters, but I don't think so.

It focuses on the Leon/Seifer pairing, and it will also have hints of Seifer/Leon in the past. Very dramatic, I know. Well, stick around and we'll see how it ends!

And reviews are appreciated. Of course. I might not really feel like finishing the story after all if I notice nobody's reading it (shameless bribe). Bye for now!


	2. oo2

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

Seifer could definitely think of more than one reasons to why he should construct a carefully planned escape route, start the Gummi Ship by force (if someone like Sora could get it up into the air, then how hard could it be?) and retreat to Twilight Town as fast as he possibly could.

But then again, doing that would most certainly be seen as an act of cowardiece on his behalf, and a coward was a word that he was _not _associated with in any context_._So, he'd stay. Of _course _he would.

"What's with the sour face?" Yuffie teased him, attempting to ruffle his hair - thankfully, he was wearing his trademark-beanie which ended with her splayed fingertips pressed upon the worn-out material, and that made it easy to brush her hand off quite snappily, scowl perfectly in place like always.

Because _no one _touched Seifer Almasy without his personal permission.

"Having a bad day?" the ninja tried again, smile faltering if only the slightest, the nervous bouncing on the balls of her feet causing her short black hair to keep falling over her eyes at the motion.

"It's nothing", Seifer replied, and it wasn't. He didn't know himself why he was making such a big deal out of it.

Hold on, he wasn't! Not like he was some whining girl who bitched about a broken nail or anything.

"It's nothing!", he said, more firmly this time, as if to convince himself.

"Well, if it's about good ol' Leon, don't worry about it! He's always like that, but he means well, y'know? Besides, it's not like-"

"It sure as hell doesn't have anything to do with that stuck-up drama queen!" Seifer growled, effectively cutting the rambling girl off. She turned silent and watched him with wide eyes for a few moments, before-

"What're you getting so pumped up for, then?" she exclaimed innocently, breaking into a trimuphatic grin and marching off as if she just won a battle, careful to do it quick enough that the baffled thug couldn't chase after her if he, for some reason, decided to.

Seifer closed his eyes as if to collect himself. This was bad for his health, really. He wished he could just go beat the shit out of chickenwuss in a Struggle Battle or something, like he usually did when he was in desperate need of getting rid of his frustrations.

God, if only Fuu, Rai and Vivi were here. Of course they'd understand him; though, he'd rather die than having them know about the humiliation he was being subjected to - to actually think that their feared leader was being teased by some midget that seemed to be obsessed with samurai movies. It was just too much.

Besides, it was all that prissy pretty-boy's fault. Who did he think he _was_, anyway? And did he have a leather-kink or what?

The most irritating thing, though, was that the stoic man hadn't actually _done _anything. It was more of a.. well, feeling. And, yes, Seifer knew how goddamn stupid - not to mention _girly _- that sounded. But despite it all, it was true, and he couldn't very well ignore it, right?

Earlier that day, he had been introduced to all of them, but as soon as he had revealed his name to the stranger (quite cockily, but such was his nature, after all) the guy - _Leon - _got this really weird look in his eyes before they turned unreadable again. He had then tilted his head ever so slightly to the side and caught Aerith's gaze, his lips pressed tightly together.

It was as if some unspoken message that wasn't Seifer's to know passed between the two of them before he tore his metal-grey gaze from her and pierced Seifer with it instead.

Sparks. Electricity. Lighting.

It was the only things that came to the blonde's mind (embarrassing as it was to admit it, because honestly, doesn't that sound like some cheesy headline from a chick flick?) as they both engaged in some sort of glaring competition.

Seifer actually felt like those eyes were the slightest bit familiar - _don't even go there_ - or at least that they were trying to tell him something, the look very meaningful and insistent.

And then, of course, a well-timed interruption ensued.

"Leon! Don't stare! Gosh, it's so _rude!_", Yuffie had tutted, shaking her head in a mock-motherly way. "Hey, what's up with guys staring each other down in that wannabe-badass way? Is it a sign of masculinity, or what?"

While Sora and Kairi were busy leading Yuffie onto another subject, everyone else helped themselves to the food; everyone except for that weird blonde guy, who had continued with watching Seifer behind those infuriating eyes of his.

"Watch your mouth, kid", Leon had muttered, obviously referring to Seifer's earlier comment concerning his age, "and the name's Leonhart."

"Leon Leonhart?" Seifer had inquired, remembering the name Yuffie had called him by before. He let a lazy smirk spread across his lips, giving the impression that he was completely uninterested in the answer. "Well that's a bit far-fetched."

Leon had glared at him, as if he intended to drive right through the blonde with the obvious fierceness of that glare.

"Yes", he replied curtly. And that was that.

Seifer had payed him no mind; he had just given Leon a scrutinizing look-over before snorting and pulling a chair out next to Hayner.

But the nagging feeling from before had stayed with him during the entire dinner, as if eyes were constantly on him, making his skin itch in all unpleasant ways imaginable.

And so that was it; the situation that had triggered the many unspoken questions plaguing the blonde. Well, it wasn't like him to dwell over things, and definitely not things so insignificant, but still. He couldn't explain it.

He didn't know why, but he had instantly felt some sort of hostility towards the older man, as if there was no way they could be anything _but _enemies. It didn't make sense at all.

"That expression doesn't suit you", came a melodic voice he sort-of recognized. The blonde turned around in the narrow hallway only to find Kairi there, a moss-green mug in her hand containing some hot beverage. She smiled friendly at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

"You look like you're thinking real hard", here, she paused for a light laugh, "you just don't seem like the type who'd do that."

He shrugged, not really knowing what to say. He'd never even spoken directly to the girl, as far as he recalled.

"Oh!" Kairi bit her lip thoughtfully. "I'm sorry. Did I offend you?"

Offend? What was the girl talking about? Seifer actually laughed. What a weird one.

"Nah. Why the hell would you do that?"

"Well, maybe.. it's not my place to say, is it? We don't know each other very well." She giggled, before offering him the mug. "It's hot chocolate. Aerith sent me to give it to you."

Seifer accepted it, frowning a bit.

"Thanks", he then awkwardly replied, taking a sip and letting the overwhelming rush of hot sweetness invade his mouth. It tasted good.

"You know", she continued, looking as if she was in no hurry to leave, "I really hope that you can become friends with everyone. You're not a bad guy."

"Do I come off that way?" he snickered sarcastically, knowing full well that he looked like some street thug that beat people up on a daily basis.

"Well, everyone else seems to like you, and I'm sure they'd love to get to know you more!" she chirruped, and no matter how hard he tried, Seifer couldn't really picture Riku or Cloud or Cid jumping up and down, just waiting for a chance to befriend him.

Of course, he didn't tell Kairi that. If she wanted to be so overly positive, then he would let her. He just shrugged.

"By the way - I mean, you don't have to answer, but, do you know Leon?"

Now _that _caught his attention. He tightened his hold on the mug, knuckles turning white.

"No", he said, voice flat.

"Really? I could've sworn that.. well, never mind. You don't like him?" she tilted her head to the side, as if honestly trying to understand how it was possible for the two of them to not like each other.

"It would seem that way, huh?" he replied with a humorless smirk, not really finding it enjoyable to be reminded of the only thing making this trip even more sour than it already was.

"He's not a bad person", Kairi mumbled, brushing some stray locks of wine-tinted hair behind her ear. "Sora told me. Apparently, something really awful happened to him in the past.. so he has a lot of trouble opening up to people. But he's always nice to Aerith and the others, and he's been taking care of this world.. I think Leon is really kind."

Seifer just watched the floor stubbornly as she smiled, some kind of burning feeling surging in his stomach before travelling upwards, trying to find its way up his dry throat. He shook his head, jaw clenching.

"I think", he eventually managed, "that I should go to bed now."

She nodded, "Yeah. See you tomorrow! We have a lot to do in the morning!"

Kairi flashed another smile and gave a small wave before rounding the corner and disappearing downstairs, skirt flowing about her matchstick-legs.

Seifer grunted, getting irritated again without any reason. There was something about that Leon Leonhart. Something undeniably important - he just _knew _it. It was like some far-off dream, or a fuzzy memory he almost recalled. Something about him that he should be aware of, and yet he wasn't.

Without even noticing, the mug slid out of the blonde's iron-grip and smashed into large pieces of dark green when it hit the floor, the chocolate pooling around it.

He swore under his breath, thinking that there wasn't even the slightest possibility that this day could get any worse as he started picking the shards up.

But then again, he hadn't noticed the tall figure leaning against the wall just around the corner, fingers pinching the bridge of said figure's nose in a out-of-habit sort of way.

Leon gritted his teeth, the scar on his face almost turning white from the frown his features had pulled into.

* * *

you know, this is the boring part. I can't tell you how many times I re-read this chapter and tried to change bits of it. thing is, I can't very well let parts like this just go by briefly explained. every good story has to be built up slooowly right? the Leon/Seifer action is coming, naturally, but it'll take a while.

:D

anyway, I still don't think very highly of this chapter, so the next one will be a hundred times better, promise! I have maany things in storage, so wait for them (well, those few of you who somehow found their way to this story).

take care, and I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve :) I sure did!


	3. oo3

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

Seifer awoke with an alien feeling settling in his gut. He tried to clear his much too dry throat, letting a large hand press against it as he realized how sore it felt. The blonde sat up in the bed (that was actually a bit too small for his brawny body, leaving him to curl up against the wall it was placed next to, long legs hanging off the edge) and stretched, arms extended above his head.

There was no window in his room; actually, there were no windows whatsoever in this temporary home; Aerith had explained to him that this place was, apparently, much safer than their respective houses - this way, they could all stay together if something was to happen, and its convenient position (that is, beneath the ground) also helped keeping the Heartless away.

He didn't need a window, though, to know that it was night. Something about the shade of darkness in the room and the rhythmical breathing pattern to his right told him that.

Seifer ran a hand through his short blonde hair as he dug around the covers, hoping to find his beanie. Without much effort, he spotted it and crammed it into his fist.

Looking over, he noticed that his room-mate was sleeping soundly; he and Hayner had been assigned to share a room for the obvious reason - they were both from the same world. Besides, Sora was already self-proclaimed as Riku's bedbuddy and Kairi, naturally, stayed with the girls.

Apparently Cid, Leon and Cloud were all stuffed into one room, sleeping on the floor and whatnot.

Seifer guessed he was pretty lucky to have been dealt a bed, even if it was several sizes too small for him; it seemed to fit Hayner, though, he thought as he gazed at the identical bed placed on the opposite side of the room, the blonde's mouth hanging agape and his arm tucked under the pillow.

The thug made up his mind; not-so-carefully, he pulled a white tank top he usually used at the gym over his head and went for the door, also dressed in the sweatpants he had been sleeping in. He didn't need to be very quiet - Hayner was a heavy sleeper, after all, but he still tried to keep it down considering the amount of people that were currently asleep.

He needed fresh air, he decided, if only for a moment.

Sure, he was aware of the fact that Heartless were more active at night and that they were, after all, in what looked like a basement from the outside for a reason.

Yet he felt the absolute _need _to get out and calm himself down. It was as if he'd had a bad dream - save for the notion that he did not dream.

Making his way down the hallway, the small steps and eventually coming to a halt in front of the main door, he noted that it was completely silent, with the exception of the clock in the kitchen, shaped like a chick with huge blue eyes that moved as the minute hand ticked away, going _tick tock tick tock. _

With rough hands he undid the chains and locks and allowed himself to slip through the front door, immediately thankful for the fresh flow of air grazing his hot skin and finding its way to his lungs.

He walked up the stairs and seated himself on a very low-leveled stone wall, bringing a packet and a lighter out of his pocket with swift movements.

His surroundings bathed in midnight-blue shadows, the moonlight casting just enough light to illuminate the silhouettes of the empty houses and the tall trees with bare branches, reaching for the sky.

As he welcomed the addicting puff of smoke, Seifer let his eyes slip close for the briefest of moments as he just tried to shake the weird feelings that had started to affect him since he first arrived off.

It was something strange - in the air, perhaps, he decided as he put the cigarette to his lips and inhaled again. Yeah, maybe he just wasn't used to _any _air outside of that little town where he'd spent his entire life, watching the sunsets as they propelled across the sky, doomed to never quite set.

Maybe this was exactly what he needed; something new and exciting, something he wasn't used to.. a _challenge, _he thought to himself, smirking; the idea seemed to please him all too much, but it was nothing new.

Then again, he _had _been feeling strange since he came to Hollow Bastion, but maybe he had simply overreacted and tried to make a connection between things that pissed him off and things that actually made sense; perhaps he was just going to be sick, or something. A fever, maybe, or..

A shrill cry that most definitely sounded _inhuman _was the only warning he got before something sharp and ruthless dug into his left shoulder.

Seifer gave a startled groan of his own, slamming his eyes open as he tried to push the creature off of him - it didn't take a genius to figure it out, and one look cast backwards confirmed his suspicions; a stray group of Heartless, about five of them.

Normally, this would have been child's play for the thug, but unfortunate as it was, he was unarmed.

_Damn it, _he thought, refusing to reside to panic as he scanned his surroundings for anything that could be used as a weapon, holding the injured shoulder with the hand belonging to his unharmed arm, blood oozing onto the tanned skin of his palm.

The Heartless didn't wait, though, and the one that had managed to sink its claws into Seifer mere seconds ago looked as if it would strike again any moment.

The blonde wouldn't have any of it; he'd dive into a fight with his bare fists before he'd stand back and get beaten by five dwarf-like shadows.

Just as the Heartless lunged, Seifer raised his arm and hit it square in its face with his elbow, sending it flying back. The rest of them were now all focused on him, trying to climb up his legs and damage him.

Seifer kicked them all away, ignoring the sound of his sweatpants ripping at his knees leaving nice holes of narrow slits criss-crossing over the material.

"You honestly think you can beat me, dipshits? Armed or not, you're no match for me! Bring it on!" he demanded, now feeling the adrenaline of battle clouding his head for real.

Taking his stance, he prepared himself for the next strike - this time, all five of them timed their attacks so that they could approach from different directions. He managed to knock one of them with his fist and then quickly punch another one up into the air while he tried to get the other ones off of him with his strong legs.

Suddenly, though, he heard the startled holler of a defeated Heartless and turning quick enough to realize that _yes, _his shoulder was still bleeding profusely and _yes, _it still hurt like a bitch, Seifer found it quite hard to believe the sight displayed in front of him.

Standing there was no one but the infamously cold and stoic, Mr. I-have-a-stick-up-my-ass Leon Leonhart (and really, the blonde couldn't get over the lame parents who'd name their kid something like that), looking most displeased - or in other words, utterly pissed off.

He held a weird-looking sword that seemed to be a gun also and even though he was heavily irritated, his stance was nothing short of perfect; all straight and controlled, the posture looked practised; like it had been used over and over for a very long time.

"Look out", was the only explanation the man offered for now, his voice nothing above a grunt as he easily ran ahead of the younger one, fighting the attacking Heartless off without blinking.

Seifer stared at the other man's back, cyan eyes still wide but eyebrows deeply furrowed. He just couldn't believe that he'd just been saved by his newly made enemy, the man he'd felt such a passionate emotion of dislike for since the moment they met.

Leon let the strange weapon slide back into its original position, tied to his back as Seifer's curious gaze trailed down the steel that glimmered in the dead of the night. It was a most interesting weapon, he decided.

When the man turned, however, his stormy grey eyes indicated that he was not even the tiniest bit of happy; not even somewhere deep inside where he might have felt a malicious pleasure towards having to rescue - Seifer mentally made a face at that word - the thug.

"Mind telling me what you were doing up here in the middle of the night?" he spat, face staying intact but his voice giving away his annoyance. Seifer realized that he had probably woken the man up, seeing as he had run out in merely loose pants and a white fitting T-shirt. His chestnut hair was all mussy and his eyes looked tired.

Despite this, Seifer's glare intensified.

"Why don't you mind your own business", he retorted just as darkly.

"Look", Leon snapped, "I don't give a damn about what you do on your free time, but do _not _risk everybody else's life because of your stupidity!"

"Oh yeah?" Seifer was starting to get majorly pissed off despite himself, "Who the hell asked you to save me, jackass?"

"If you weren't so incapable of taking care of yourself, I wouldn't have done it", the brown-haired male deadpanned.

Seifer just growled.

"I was unarmed, you ass!" completely ignoring the severe throbbing in his shoulder, the blonde marched towards the older male, attempting to intimidate him just a little; he was _not _a fucking baby or a damsel in distress, mind you! He wasn't weak like the rest of their little save-the-world-crew! If anything, he could've battled Leon and won!

Seifer didn't really know why he felt so certain of that last thing, but it swelled within his chest as if he had already beat him into the ground, as if he could actually _feel _Leon's body against the concrete cement and his own two hands connecting time after time with his jaw, stomach-

(_no, not hand-to-hand, they always sparred with Gu-)_

Something seemed to explode in the younger man's head as he grasped the side of his face tightly, sharply inhaling. What the hell had that been?

Something seemed to grow hazy inside of his mind and the only thing that he was conscious of was the fact that one of the steps he had taken towards the scarred man had resulted with himself splayed on the ground, the form of the brunet's crouched body somewhere above him.

How mortifying. To not only get saved by the brooding man, but now to _faint _in front of him also? These things just didn't happen to Seifer Almasy - and if they did, you'd be sure that he'd beat the crap out of any witnesses there were; all to keep his well-known reputation undamaged.

And the last thing he was aware of was exactly that; the burning humiliation that seemed to pump throughout his entire body before he closed his eyes and let the darkness invade his senses if only a little - at least it would be a small escape from this not-too-desirable condition.

* * *

When his consciousness returned to him, he awoke jerkily and with a tight gasp, trying to sit up before he even knew where he was.

A tiny hand with elegant fingers, however, came to rest on his bicep, gently urging him back down.

"Relax", Aerith's calming voice resounded, and Seifer tried to focus his gaze on the blurry pink dot that was moving in front of him. "You're hurt", the girl added, and the blonde thug couldn't help but make a face - _I can tell, thankyouverymuch. _

"The others", he hissed impatiently, almost missing the feel of soft fabric wrapped around his shoulder, "where are they?"

Aerith bit her lip. "They're out fighting the Heartless, um, like it was decided you'd all do. But you should.."

She didn't even have the time to finish the sentence before Seifer had freed himself from the thin blanket covering his body, still clad in what he had worn last night; instantly, images of his charming meeting with the leader of Hollow Bastion's little crew flashed by in front of his eyes.

"What's the place called?" he asked her, pulling the beanie that had been placed on the small table in his and Hayner's shared room over his head.

Aerith gave a small sigh, realizing that she couldn't exactly keep him here by force.

"The Great Maw", she declared, "but really, I'm worried that if you go there you might get even _more _hurt-"

"Don't worry 'bout me", Seifer grumbled, only a second later realizing how angry he must've seemed. Looking back over his shoulder from the doorway, he added in a softer tone; "I've been through worse."

And with that, he was on his way.

No damn Heartless or a pissed guy that looked as if he'd just hit puberty could stop him from fulfilling the damn reason he came here!

Thinking about it as he somehow made his way to The Great Maw, he found himself getting more and more pumped. If this wasn't going to be a hell of a battle, he was going to be honestly disappointed - he felt like beating the shit out of anybody (preferably smartass-pretty boys, but ah well).

As he, however, reached his destination, he found it to be _much _better than he had anticipated; it would seem like there were shortly under a thousand of Heartless, taking up the entire space that could be seen from the blue-ish cliffs framing the little battle field where a most intense battle was being fought.

He ran towards it as fast as he could.

Seifer easily spotted Sora and his two best friends near a corner, fighting the little beasts off and watching each other's backs with motions that looked customary to one another; how Riku, for example, would look out for Sora as his hotheaded way of sometimes missing the things that could sneak up on him from behind resulted in sloppiness, and how both of the boys helped Kairi as soon as there was even the slightest possibility of her being in a pinch.

Cloud was standing not far from another corner, his fighting style hinting that he was a very skilled swords-wielder; Seifer was utterly impressed (not that he'd ever dream of admitting it) by the way the silent but deadly blonde swung that _hugeass _blade that almost was the double of his own size; he still made it look fluent and easy to wield, striking without hesitation.

Hayner was closer to the middle, doing a pretty neat job of keeping all of the little monsters at bay, his movements quick and flexible as he moved around and changed positions a lot.

And then he heard a squeaking voice diagonally from the chickenwuss, as he could see two figures moving.

Yuffie had fallen to the ground, hands splayed beneath her as she quite ungracefully landed on her ass; her round eyes were widened as she saw the Heartless immediately taking the chance to attack her - luckily, Leon was there in a flash, his blade digging through the small shadowy body without effort, helping the ninja up with his other hand.

"Be careful!" Seifer thought could be heard above the noise, and then the brunet turned around just as swiftly as he had appeared, not going too far away from the girl.

The blonde, however, managed to catch Leon's gaze mere moments before he reached to grab his Struggle Bat; compared to the other's weapons, it did seem a little unusual but he didn't have time to dwell over things like that - a good fighter was determined by the skills he possessed, not by his weapon! Seifer could turn a flower into a bringer of death if he so wished.

Leon's eyes narrowed dangerously when he caught sight of the blonde, but Seifer just offered his most charming smirk, already able to taste metallic blood in the back of his mouth.

Promptly turning around, he was met with a whole heap of the little sharp-clawed bastards; and with a growl that vibrated in his throat, he met the challenge thrust upon him with all the strength he could muster.

He was so caught up with it, that he didn't even _notice _that he was being backed away 'til he was in a spot that seemed to be isolated from the huge area where the rest of his comrades were located. This place was also encircled by cliffs, but there seemed to be crystals sprouting from the stone walls, surrounding the entire territory.

And then he heard it; a voice so bone-chilling it seemed to match the icy surface of the clear crystals.

"Come to me, come here.. if you dare, that is."

As if on a cue, the small flock of Heartless in front of Seifer vanished and turned to black smoke - when the thug turned around, he was met with a most astounding vision;

A man with sickly white skin, piercing emerald eyes and long, silver hair that flowed down his back and hung over his broad shoulders.

The man smiled, and Seifer felt a pang of discomfort that chilled his insides.

* * *

so I got briefly inspired there and decided to take advantage of it to finish this chapter. I think it's a bit longer than the others, but ah well.

(then again, it might not be. hm.)

so, I went to see Avatar the other day and wow, what a marvelous movie! I was the only one there elbowing my friend and going "OMG! OMG!" at every scene. I'll just have to write a fanfic about it, someday.. when I can put words on it. Plot bunnies are already chasing me!

Anyway, I think I'll finish the next chapter pretty quickly, so stay tuned! :D How're you liking it so far?


	4. oo4

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

It only took a fleeting moment of hesitation for Seifer to compose himself before aiming the Struggle Bat at this newfound opponent - there was something in the man's way of speech and that exasperating presence that annoyed the blonde to no end. He had to belong to the enemy.

"My, my, aren't you a tough one", the stranger chuckled coldly, "Mind telling me where my dear.. acquaintance is?"

Seifer quickly scanned his memories to try and figure out who the lunatic could possibly mean; he had never even seen this man before in his entire life, and he certainly couldn't grasp why he thought that Seifer knew any of his friends! If, of course, he didn't mean somebody from _this _world..

Then again, why would they have anything to do with a freak like the one standing in front of him?

"Even if I knew who you were talking 'bout, I wouldn't tell you!" Seifer yelled.

The man narrowed his poisonous orbs and gave a frightening smirk that didn't reach his hollow eyes. It was then that Seifer noticed the immense wing shooting from his back, giving a meaningful flap as his baffled gaze was trained upon it. Great, just great. Now he didn't have a weirdo after him - he had a weirdo with a _wing_!

"You", the one-winged man spoke up, something shifting in his gaze, "What is your name?"

"Gimme' one reason to why I should tell you!"

The man's smirk widened, as if he had just figured something out.

"Very well. I'll trade my name for yours. I am Sephiroth", he drawled, taking idle steps towards the younger one. Seifer stood his ground, clenching his teeth, Struggle Bat still pointed towards the silvret who looked like he didn't have a care in the world, striding almost lazily.

"You wouldn't want to fight _me_", Sephiroth added almost off-handedly, the tight leather under his coat moving in time with the muscles beneath as he continued to advance. "But then again, you're the stubborn type. Just like him."

"Stay the hell away from me!" Seifer snapped. "What is it that you want?"

A second later, the thug found himself face-to-face with a sharp, narrow blade that had somehow broken through his own impeccable guard and was now just a breath away from whispering against his forehead. _Damn _if it wasn't long - it had to be an at least six foot sword!

"I told you. I want to know if he's here. I came just for him, after all.." Sephiroth trailed off, making room for a pregnant pause, something wicked glimmering in the depths of viridity that he had for eyes as his knuckles tightened around the shaft of the blade.

"And who the hell is-"

"SEIFER! OH, SEIFY-BOO! ARE YOU HERE?" Yuffie shrieked, the sound echoing off of the walls, making the blonde fight off the urge to wince. Suddenly, as if it had never even been there, the almost non-existent pressure of the powerful-looking sword was gone, along with its owner.

The hyper ninja's footsteps could be heard mere moments later, and as she approached the small area in which Seifer stood, face a grimace and weapon on the ground, she puckered up her lips thoughtfully.

"What in the world are you doing there, Seif? And why did you come in the first place? You're hurt!" she tsk-ed, but by the width of her grin it was easy to tell that she was excited about the whole thing. "Anyway! Did you _see _that? There were, like, soo many! And you should've _seen _how I whipped ass out there! Y'know, it was-"

And just as she went into rambling-mode, Seifer touched his left shoulder lightly, noticing that there was still a dull ache; it was probably because he had fought today, but it had definitely been worth it - nothing, especially not some lame injury could stop him!

The image of Sephiroth in all of his intimidating glory made its way back into his mind, flickering from straight silver hair to a smirk dripping with malice to his thin and deadly blade; Seifer guessed you needed a whole lot of strength to be able to wield such a blade, and that cognition didn't exactly made him think of the man as less able to harm anyone he chose to.

He considered telling the others, but then again, Sephiroth had spoken of a specific person - _I came for him - _so it had to be one of the men from Hollow Bastion. Then, who..

"Ah! Lee-awn! What up?" Yuffie exclaimed, halting in her story about the 'super-cool-ninja-move' that she had sent upon their enemies to look behind the thug. Leon just watched her with tired eyes as he approached them, gaze hardening as it landed on Seifer for a brief moment before returning to the girl. The blonde rolled his eyes at that.

"Wow, Leon! You sure did your _thang_ out there! It was so cool! Did you see it, Seifer? The Heartless went like, RAWR! and then Leon was like, HIYA and then he totally _impaled _the Heartless on his Gunblade and I was like _woah, _that was the most-"

"Hold on!" Seifer suddenly interrupted, surprising even himself - well, no point in turning back now. He just _had _to know. "What.. what did you say?"

"I _said_", Yuffie huffed impatiently, "that Leon totally whooped the-"

"Gunblade", Leon spoke in that low monotone of his, eyes immediately locked on the younger man's face, obviously trying to read his reaction. "She said gunblade."

Seifer narrowed his eyes. That word.. he _knew _that word! Wait, where had he..

Leon drew in a tight breath as he brought his infamous weapon forward, holding it out at arm's length for Seifer to inspect. The boy's gaze first turned disbelieving; then, he scanned the weapon thoroughly, caressing every inch of hard steel and complicated mechanism with his hunting eyes, searching, searching and-

Seifer put a hand to his temple, lowered his eyes and, to his great dismay, failed to hide the wince that followed.

Leon swiftly moved the weapon to his back as quickly as he had revealed it, watching the other male, his eyes doubtful.

"What's wrong, Seif?" Yuffie wondered, nudging his good shoulder. Seifer shook his head. _Seif? _What was up with the weird nicknames?

"Maybe you got a little dizzy!" the ninja suggested happily. "Well, that's what you get for throwing yourself into a battle when you're hurt!"

"I'm not hurt", he snapped. "It's just a scratch!"

"Really? When Leon carried you home last night you were bleeding all over Aerith's carpet - the pink one - and you call that a scratch? I saw the wound, it was _nasty!_" she insisted, sticking her tongue out; Seifer, however, wasn't quite sure he had heard correctly. Leon, himself and _carrying _in the same sentence? What the hell?

He quickly sought the other man's gaze but the brunet had already turned and was currently stalking down the path leading back to the others with rather sped-up steps.

"Hurry", he threw over his shoulder.

"Hey! Wait up!" Yuffie cried, instantly running after the older man. Seifer huffed, tracing the skin diagonally from his ear where the pulsating from before still lingered; he didn't know what to make of these sudden headaches - if you could call the feeling of repeatedly being _stabbed _in the head by an imaginary-knife a headache - but perhaps it was all because of his lack of sleep.

With a last look over his bandaged shoulder (and _without _catching sight yet again of a certain one-winged, most terrifying angel-demon) Seifer left the Crystal Fissure.

* * *

"You seem down", Aerith observed over the other's buzzing at the dining table; she had cooked yet another impressive meal, large enough for all of them and everybody was busy digging in - save for Seifer, too distracted to notice.

"I'm not", he protested out of reflex, "I guess I'm just a little tired."

"Yeah. You've had a rough day, huh?" Aerith smiled as if she understood, and just like that, she let the subject go. Seifer thanked her inwardly for that, because he felt like he just wasn't up for any kind of conversation tonight.

There were too many things on his mind.

He still hadn't told anyone about Sephiroth and honestly, he wasn't sure why. It kind of felt like he was obligated to - that inhuman man had nothing to do with him, and if he was out to kidnap one of the others it was better if Seifer warned them. Then again, what if he had been after someone outside of the Restoration Committée? Unlikely, sure, but still.

Not to mention, what if the person he was looking for really was his ally? That could put everyone in danger, especially if the traitor was someone among them..

"How's your shoulder, Seifer?" asked Sora, sitting opposite of the blonde with a sauce-drenched piece of stew halfway shoved down his throat. That kid really ate as if he'd never even tasted food before, Seifer sniggered mentally.

"I barely even notice it anymore", the blonde asserted, focusing on the food in front of him to avoid meeting Leon's gaze.

Not that he'd have to worry; he confirmed with a quickly cast sideway-glance that the man was obviously engrossed with either the food or his thoughts, because he was staring at the plate in front of him as if he could burn a hole through it, ignoring Yuffie's drawn-out stories about pretty much anything that she really put feeling into telling.

Well, at least he wasn't the only brooding one; that spiky-haired man with bright blue eyes - _Cloud_ - was sitting on the other side of Yuffie, looking completely shut off from the rest of the world with a blank expression covering his features. Although it wasn't unusual, the thug couldn't help but wonder what was currently on his mind.

"Are you sure? It looked pretty serious last night when Leon-"

Oh, he did _not _need to be reminded of _that _little incident again.

"I said it's fine", Seifer promptly interrupted, confident smile in place. The image of Leon carrying his own unconscious form was something he really didn't want to picture; thank God that he'd been out long enough to miss that lovely experience. "Now, what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"We're helping out in the outskirts of the town", Yuffie announced all the way from the other side of the table, instantly waving her knife around to emphasize whatever it was she was going to ramble about. "Since we like, beat the crap out of those Heartless we assume there can't be too many left. So we're doing some re-building nearby."

"Yeah. Tomorrow, if we finish on time and everything goes as planned, we're also leaving", Sora continued, stuffing another fork-full of food into the black hole that, clearly, was the connection between his mouth and stomach.

Seifer's azure eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. He nodded, returning to his food.

Of course he was happy about leaving; hell, he'd barely been able to wait since he first got here! Besides, it had only been two days, so it really wasn't that bad at all; not like he had pictured it.

And yet, still..

"Aren't you happy now? Get to see your little wannabe-guardians crew?" Hayner couldn't help but remark, flashing a lazy grin two seats away. Seifer's laugh was full of sarcasm.

"Well, without us - or, actually, _me - _the town would be a complete mess", he reminded the other.

"How so?" Hayner snorted, rolling his hazel eyes dramatically.

"Well, you and your little lamer-gang would be let loose, wouldn't you? Just imagine _that _- I bet it'd be a hundred times worse than a million of Heartless attacking the town", Seifer drawled.

"Why you-"

"Want a piece of this, chickenwuss?" Seifer challenged, fully prepared to rise from his chair and fight Hayner right this moment. They weren't actually having a fight for real - or so he assumed - this was just a natural habit for both of them, everyday-happenings from their home town. Besides, Seifer could always use a punching bag.

For some reason, Leon dropped the salt-cellar and it clattered as it hit the wooden floor, rolling away from the table and spilling salt in its way.

Instantly, stormy grey eyes were fixing Seifer with their gaze, something positively indecipherable clouding them. The blonde almost forgot about Hayner who was whining at him and about Aerith's half-amused, half-serious face as she tried to calm them down.

Because _damn, _but there it was again; that feeling like he knew something about Leonhart - or maybe Leonhart knew something about _him? _It was as if a secret message was being passed to him as soon as they locked gazes, something he should understand.

The distant pounding of his pulse and the skull-splitting ache came back, and his fingers twitched under the dining table, reaching for _something-_"Oh no! That's bad luck, Lee!" Yuffie innocently remarked, blinking her huge eyes at the trail of salt. The swordsman broke away from the piercing glare they had shared, mumbling something or another to the girl.

"I'll go up", Seifer decided, not really giving a damn about how rude he sounded, the only thing passing through his mind being _I need to be alone. _

Nobody stopped him, and so he easily made it up the stairs and to his room, the last one on the right. Immediately throwing himself upon the bed, not even caring about the half of his limbs that didn't fit in it, he simply _breathed._&**&**&

He didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep until he awoke many hours later, also having the pleasure of finding out that he had slept in a very awkward position for his back and neck.

Seifer glanced over at Hayner who was sleeping like a baby, and while exhaling, he simply placed an arm over his sweaty forehead. _Talk about déjà-vu._ Here he was with the same problem as the night before; he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep immediately, but this time, he was over the urge to go out and risk getting ambushed by Heartless again.

The thoughts from before sneaked up on him again; in a few more hours, he might be on the Gummi Ship with Twilight Town as course. For some reason, it didn't excite him the way he thought he would.

Right now he didn't know _what _to do; of course he wanted to go home - to be frank, he had longed for it. His teammates, the serene atmosphere, the feeling of belonging at least a little.

Then again, he felt like he couldn't just leave things as they were here. He was close to something; a discovery, perhaps. This whole thing with Sephiroth and the person he was looking for, and Leon's weird behaviour, and, well-

(".._stubborn, just like him.._")

Hold on, he thought, holding his breath for a moment in the darkness that covered the small room. What if Sephiroth had actually meant.. Leon?

Well, perhaps he was making his own assumptions and yeah, he couldn't exactly base them on any logical proof, but.. it could very well be him! Leon was stubborn and cold and would probably never tell anyone if someone like Sephiroth was chasing him. And why else would the silver-haired man believe that Seifer knew him, if he had not seen them together, on The Great Maw for example?

Leon had been there fighting; most of the others had been girls, and it couldn't very well be Sora, since-

"But are you, like, _really _sure?" a voice piped up, one he knew all too well; it was the self-proclaimed Great Ninja, and obviously, she was talking to someone in the hallway outside of Seifer's shared room.

"I'm not", came the even answer, voice nothing more than a mutter in the night. Leon - of _course_. How wonderful. "I'm not, that's the whole point."

"You're telling me he has the same name?" Yuffie asked, waiting patiently for the answer for what seemed like at least a minute.

"..Yeah, and the looks too. He has.. I mean, he had.."

"But then, why can't it be him?"

A snort could be heard, and Seifer could very clearly imagine the sour man shaking his head irritably, as if trying to explain a simple matter to a child. Who the hell where they discussing in the middle of the night, anyway?

"It just can't", Leon whispered. "He's dead. He died a long time ago. And even if he hadn't, he'd be a few years older than me now. This guy's barely older than Sora."

"He's eighteen, Lee."

"And I'm twenty-five", Leon answered, deadpan.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Yuffie huffed. "Maybe it's his reincarnation or something. You know, like.. maybe he was re-born into another world after he died."

A heavy sigh stretched throughout the air. Seifer didn't dare releasing the breath he had sucked in, he just listened carefully to the two people who had fallen silent.

"No. It can't be him. His aura.. it doesn't _feel_ like him. Even with the scar and everything.." Leon trailed off abrurptly.

Scar? What about Leon's scar? Seifer had naturally noticed it the first time they had met; he had thought it a bit strange and also kind of ironic that they shared an identical scar save for the direction they were pointing to; perhaps Leon and Yuffie were talking about the person who had given Leon his scar?

"Besides, even if he _had _been re-born, he'd just be a little kid by now."

"That's true", Yuffie admitted, disappointment evident in her voice. "Well, I don't know how good friends the two of you were, but I guess you'd be able to tell if it was him or not."

"It's not", Leon insisted in the same emotionless tone. "I told you. Seifer.. is dead."

The perplexed blonde's eyes grew several sizes bigger as he gasped for the air that had suddenly been knocked out of his lungs.

He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

* * *

Whew, I really did finish quickly. I must really be gettin' me some inspiration these days. Normally, it'd take five months for me to update. But oh well, I'm not complaining!

Seems like it's gonna be a pretty long story after all if I'm going to include everything I want to without it getting all rushed and leaving things unexplained.

& Leon carried Seifer. Yey :D


	5. oo5

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

He dreamt such a weird dream that night.

It was as if he was being rocked forth and back in the middle of a violent storm, an illusion of safety trying to convince him while the dark clouds were closing in on him, but it wasn't exactly an image that he saw before his dazed eyes; it was more like some sort of breath-stealing tension - the air heavily loaded with a feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on.

It scared him. Not the gentle darkness that was being displayed behind his closed eyelids, but the whole nature of the dream; it was unpleasant.

Suddenly, something flashed; a small, small light in that ever-lasting darkness made its presence known.

And then, Seifer was facing a tall brunet with long legs and hard eyes; the color a stormy shade of piercing grey. In his hand, he held some sort of strange revolver, only with a sword shooting from it, just like-

He didn't have much time to speculate, seeing as the man instantly striked. For some reason, though, Seifer's body easily avoided the attack (even though he felt much larger and heavier!) and met the weapon with one of his own; one that looked almost identical to the other man's.

Really, it all got blurry after that; they danced about the surface their feet stood upon, making it their own personal battle field; every assault was met with a calculated parry, their movements sure and used to one another, as if he was _meant _to clash blades with this man.

Out of nowhere, he felt something in his hand, seemingly _on fire_; before he even knew it himself, he had thrown a huge fire ball at his opponent, who was caught off guard and fell to the ground. Seifer's hands moved on their own - they saw their opportunity, and immediately went for the other man's face, slashing straight down.

Blood dripped down the stranger's face as he snarled and managed to regain his balance, standing and wielding his sword upwards to return the favor.

Seifer felt something warm and sticky in his face, followed by a dull pain that seemed to throb throughout his very being; and then, a light so sharp and blinding he was forced to close his eyes.

"Wake _up _already!" a voice complained. Seifer blinked his still sleep-glazed eyes and saw big black dots covering his vision. He somehow spotted Sora sitting on his bed, pouting.

Wait. Why was he on the floor?

"Breakfast is ready", another voice explained. Seifer turned and saw Riku, leaning against the doorway to his room. He also noticed that Hayner wasn't in his own bed.

"You were sleeping heavily", Sora continued with a snicker, "Hayner wouldn't stop bugging us about it. He said you were keeping him up all night long - you were screaming in your sleep and mumbling weird things, apparently."

Seifer frowned. He hadn't done that, had he? He remembered dreaming - it was fuzzy, but bits of it were being replayed in his mind while he was still fighting the dizziness of waking up so abrurptly.

"Come when you're ready!" the younger boy exclaimed, jumping off of the bed and leaving promptly, practically dragging the silvret out of there.

Seifer groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He felt as if he'd just been run over by a truck or something - it was worse than any hangover in the quite generous history of his hangovers; his head was a tangled mess of hazy images and scattered thoughts, feeling as if he was still in some sort of dream-land.

Standing shakily, he considered the option of falling out of his bed in the middle of the night. Or maybe Hayner pushed him down because he got sick of him..

Hm. The chickenwuss would pay, if that was the matter.

He barely made it to the door, dragging his feet towards the bathroom; unfortunately for Seifer, he bumped into a hard chest that made him lose his balance and fall against the nearest wall, hand outstretched for support.

Leon's gloved hand was also extended towards the younger boy, but he quickly drew it back when he realized Seifer had managed to catch himself, gaze turning smoldering.

In that moment, the dream came back to the blonde; it hit him with such a powerful force he actually let a choked gasp out.

The man from his dream.. it had been no one but Leon! Of _course. _Goddamn stone-face was bugging him even in his dreams now.

But that sharp, angular face.. the posture, the fighting style.. the _blade.. _and the damage Seifer had managed to inflict on the brunet during their imaginary battle.. that was certainly a most not-so-interesting dream.

Did it mean that he was honestly so disturbed by Leon, that he unconsciously wanted to bang the shit out of him? Probably.

The brunet opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it again with a firm _clank _of his teeth.

He left, and Seifer didn't have the time to even react. He was tired of overthinking. He slid down the wall and brought his knees up, breathing pattern suddenly ragged.

* * *

Breakfast went by in a flash, Seifer moving like a walking zombie and not really paying attention to anything that was going on around him - everybody seemed to notice it, but didn't bother with disturbing him. They just continued with their usual playfulness and non-stop talking.

Well, except for the lone wolves, of course; Cloud and Leon - and now, he had obviously also joined the club, Seifer noted reluctantly.

He locked gazes with the brunet when Seifer reached for the milk, and it felt like something in his stomach promptly fell; a heavy weight settling in his gut. Leon was the first one to look away, though, and the blonde didn't miss the tightening of that jaw as he turned.

Sora didn't cease once in talking about the places they would visit after this; _this time, we'll do it together _he bristled over and over again, looking happily at Kairi and Riku, telling them about worlds called Halloween Town and Pride Lands and Beast's Castle and Kairi cheered him on with a bright smile while Riku curled his lips upwards knowingly.

An hour went by and everybody was starting to get ready to leave.

"A new journey, but this time, we won't be separated! Besides, I still have to find the source of all the Nobodies and their weird organization", Sora hummed as they walked a deserted path towards the domain that was in desperate need of restoration.

Seifer stayed silent during most of the walk, pretending not to hear Hayner's dry comments or bashful remarks. He had a lot of things on his mind, and he couldn't be bothered with a lamer like himself - he told Hayner that at one point which caused the boy to stomp off, fuming after he realized that Seifer wouldn't fight him in the middle of nowhere at that particular time.

He looked up, however, at the girly squeal that penetrated the thick fog of blurry thoughts.

"We're here! Good ol' playground of the squirts!" Yuffie beamed. "Remember, Lee? We practically had to _drag _the kids that used to play here away."

Seifer inspected the wilted grass covering the ground, the splashes of sand placed here and there, the big boulders and hovels, small houses that were almost leveled with the ground and the numerous animal traps. _Kids _from this town actually played in a place like this?

"It didn't always look like this", Kairi giggled as if reading his mind, "Yuffie says it used to be a wonderful little place - then some bad guys came to destroy it. The animal traps were placed here by the inhabitants before they left town completely."

Seifer made a grumbling noise, a sound of acknowledgement before hardening his gaze on the ground, thinking that the 'bad guys' probably was the Heartless.

Leon didn't answer the girl, but his eyes seemed to shift to Seifer's form. When he realized the blonde was looking back at him, though, he immediately turned his head again.

Something clenched within the thug as he realized that he had forgotten something else - something important that he couldn't believe he didn't pay more attention to. He seemed to be doing _that _a lot lately.

Last night came back to him in a flash, and he definitely knew now where the bittersweet taste in the back of his mouth that had lingered the entire morning came from.

It was the overheard conversation between Leon and Yuffie from last night that he recalled. He still wasn't sure what to make of the things he had heard them talk about. They couldn't mean him - he wasn't _dead _and they could tell as much! But it had felt too close to comfort, and it had hit him in a place deep within.

He wished he knew who they had been talking about - and _why. _And what the hell it meant. There were too many facts missing from the dialogue of yesterday, and besides, he wasn't even sure he remembered it all.

He had to know. And he would - no doubt about _that._"All right, let's split up and work in pairs - it'll be done faster that way!" Sora suggested, instantly hooking his thin arm around Riku's, who rolled his eyes with a smile.

Everybody agreed on the idea, and Seifer caught Yuffie watching him intently as they were standing there. He smirked at her, and she smiled back, embarrassed to be caught staring. She hit Leon's shoulder playfully before jerking her head in some random direction.

"Let's go fix the walls, Lee!" she proposed, and the man just shrugged and followed her with slow, calculated steps.

Sora and Riku went somewhere else, and Kairi turned towards Seifer with a sparkling smile, looking as if she was about to say something. Cloud - yes, _Cloud, _of all people - beat her to it, though, and it almost shocked the blonde thug to the point where his jaw would have been left hanging agape, as the silent man spoke up.

"Hey", he called in a low voice, glowing eyes studying the younger one. "Come with me."

And Seifer arched a questioning brow before obeying, stalking after the man who was already way ahead of him, his posture sharp but confident enough to look effortless as he moved.

They reached a building that didn't look as thoroughly torn as the others, it just needed some fixing on the roof. Cloud turned around and regarded the other with a look that didn't exactly scream out the pleasure of being alone with the younger man - then, why would the blonde want to pair up with him in the first place?

Seifer just set his jaw, not exactly loving the situation, either. He walked ahead of the older blonde and climbed up the small house without a second look thrown over his shoulder. He could hear Cloud's silent movements as the man obviously followed his example and set to work - he did have a bad feeling, though.

They worked on repairing the damages during silence, Seifer casting subtle gazes towards the other members to see what they were up to.

Sora seemed to be goofing around as much as he was working, which caused the irritated look to cross his silver-haired friend's face a couple of times - the brunet, however, always managed to get Riku to crack a smile in the end.

Kairi and Hayner were having a seemingly interesting conversation, the boy waving his arms dramatically as he paused in his work. Kairi giggled at whatever he was saying before picking up a hammer.

And then, not far from them, Yuffie was talking in a much too loud voice just like always, yapping and bouncing around while Leon was working, scowling stubbornly.

Lips pressed together in concentration, eyebrows drawn low in the man's face, metal-grey eyes, those angular features pulled into a strict frown - Seifer found himself staring intently, pale blue orbs lingering when..

_I told you. Seifer.. is dead._

He let a small gasp escape, turning his head away instantly as if burned. He hadn't forgotten.

As he focused on continuing with repairing the roof, he noticed Cloud's intent gaze burning holes through his skull. He looked up, visibly irritated, and met the pools of swirling blue staring back at him.

"What?" he barked, not in the mood for anything.

"You.." Cloud trailed off, closing his mouth again and watching the younger one with hard eyes. Seifer raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing", Cloud muttered, letting his hand press against his temple as if experiencing a headache. "Just.. that presence.."

Seifer didn't understand. Standing up, he was just about to open his mouth and ask, when a loud cracking sound could be heard - the blonde felt the not-so-steady roof he was standing on seconds ago disappear beneath his feet and his stomach flipped, body growing cold in a split second as gravity betrayed him.

He fell right through, but before the fatal moment of him crashing against the solid ground came, something grabbed him in a steady grip.

Seifer looked up, sincerely surprised and also scared shitless; but, there was no way Cloud would've had the time - nor the _length - _to be able to reach down.

His assumptions proved to be correct - what he saw, however, was something that he definitely wasn't expecting.

It was Cloud all right, fingers clasped around the younger boy's torso and unnaturally blue eyes piercing him from beneath blonde bangs.

From the left side of his side, though, a demonic-looking wing was fluttering, struggling to keep the weight of both of them in the air.

And Seifer honestly thought that this whole thing with the weird coincidences and strange situations he was getting himself into was starting to look more like a sick joke than anything else.

* * *

I think I jinxed myself. Like, really. Recall last chapter, huh? You know, the one I wrote liiiiightyears ago? I said that I was getting a lot of inspiration lately which made me finish the chapters so much faster.

WELL, obviously not anymore!

You won't believe how much I struggled with this one, though! I wanted to make it good but I couldn't find the words and the right feeling and.. well, I don't really like it at all! But I wanted to update, so, yeah..

And it's _so _short, too!

Hope you'll forgive the crappy chapter. And let's hope that I un-jinx myself so that I can finish the next one quicker, yeah?

:)


	6. oo6

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

Leon didn't have the time to ponder about how's or when's or what the hell is going on-'s. All he knew was that he was peacefully minding his own business while trying to _not _get his ear drum torn apart due to a hyperactive ninja going into ramble-mode on him when they were busy rebuilding, and in the next second, a surprised and pretty much horrified roar cut through the air like a knife.

He turned just in time to catch sight of the rather noisy blonde that had been spending some of the past days here along with Sora and the others, right as he was falling through the roof that had probably broken beneath the weight of him and Cloud. It was not a very high fall, but concidering the state the house was in and also the sharp and broken things inside of it, Leon wouldn't have been overjoyed to crash through, either.

His legs were obviously way ahead of him, because he found himself running forward as fast as he could, scowling out of habit - that damned brat, always getting into trouble..! He hadn't even been there for three full days and had already managed to put not only his own life in danger, but some of the other members of the Committee too, courtesy of his stubbornness.

He was just childish. Stupid, arrogant and..

Leon unconsciously found himself gritting his teeth as he approached the building, worried screams somewhere behind him but he ignored them and _where the hell had Cloud gone, anyway?_He burst the door open with a swift kick of his legs and it hit the wall, giving him a view he hadn't been expecting; Cloud was slowly lowering both himself and the thug he was holding on to to the ground, wing stretched out behind him as it moved up and down with obvious restraint, breaking the air but not without difficulty.

Seifer looked downright struck by shock, allowing his limp body to be seated on a dirty sofa that had been turned upside down as Cloud's feet finally hit the ground, breathing ragged with the effort.

The younger blonde finally snapped out of it.

"That was..what the hell..! And why in the..!" he growled low in his throat, not looking very fond over the stressed quality to his voice. "_What the fuck's going on_?" he demanded more clearly.

Leon couldn't bring himself to say anything, he just stood there, brows furrowed and eyes wide. He had known about the other man's wing - hell, he had been the one to rescue him and bring him to the care of Aerith after Cloud had been in what looked like one hell of a battle considering his bloody clothes and open wounds, so it was nothing new.

But Seifer looked as if he just couldn't believe it. Was it really that strange though? The thug had encountered magical beings and surroundings before, so what made this so special?

"And that shit about some 'presence'.." Seifer trailed off, frowning, before something seemed to dawn on him. "Fuck! It's _you _he's looking for, right?" he exclaimed.

Cloud's mako-blue eyes doubled in size, but his down-turned lips only twitched. He nodded once.

"I'd prefer it if we could discuss this somewhere private", he muttered, voice drained of all emotion. Seifer just gaped at him.

"Shit..! Yeah, okay, yeah. Man!" he snorted, shaking his own head in disbelief. "What's up with all the freaky stuff here, anyway? And how the hell did you manage to hide _that_?" Seifer asked, gesticulating towards the black wing.

"I know a spell that keeps it away for a day or two", Cloud muttered.

Needless to say, Leon was quite tired of not understanding anything. The pair didn't even seem to have noticed him standing there.

"You're bleeding", the brunet finally offered, deadpan.

Seifer's angry eyes turned to him, and it was only a moment after that the message sunk in. He jerked his head to the arm he had injured the day before, and much to his dismay, acknowledged that the brunet had been right; the wound had probably been torn open anew and was now bleeding again, thick crimson visible through the white barrier of dirty bandage wrapped around his shoulder.

Sora stormed in, waving his hands frantically.

"Seif! Are you.. are you okay?"

The beanie-wearing blonde gave an impressing smirk.

"Of course. What'd you expect?"

"Too bad", Hayner commented dryly after a thorough look-over to decide whether or not Seifer was lying.

"Could still kick your ass with both my arms tied, chickenwuss", the taller of the two immediately barked.

There it was again. That word.. the word that brought up the turmoil of painful memories better left forgotten. Identical scars, blades clashing, an arrogant grin, everyday taunts, daily fights..

Leon could feel something tighthening in his throat, but he quickly pushed it into some dusty corner of his awareness. Since when was he so easily put-off? But, still..

So much time had passed. So much time since Seifer Almasy, quite the problem-child even when training for SeeD, had looked him in the eye with those infuriating, crystal-pale eyes and cocked his mouth into a half-smile, half-sneer, mocking the brunet merely by his presence. So much time since he had called him 'puberty-boy' with a satisfied smirk that spoke of challenge and had referred to Zell, always the cheerful one, as..

"I'm _not _a chickenwuss!" was Hayner's practised cry, lunging for the taller blonde out of habit it seemed, an attack that Seifer easily blocked, brushing the other off like some annoying bug - which of course only angered Hayner more.

"Why you..!"

"Hey!" Kairi interrupted, and seemed to realize her unusually loud tone when everyone's eyes turned to her. "Um.. we should fix you up. _Then _you can fight all you want", she said, unable to stop a smile from appearing on her face.

"I'm fine", Seifer argued, but didn't pull away as the redhead led him out of the house, Yuffie bouncing at their heels.

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. His constant headache seemed to have increased by double force.

"You okay?" came Cloud's low, familiar voice.

"I should be asking you that, you know", he responded sternly, glaring at the stone-faced blonde, who merely shrugged his shoulders in that typical _Leon-_way of saying 'whatever' before brushing past the brunet - without a _scratch, _too_. _

Alone with his thoughts as company, Leon bit the inside of his cheek, trying and failing to forget about the familiar verbal bickering that had hit him a bit too close for comfort. It was just like before. Just like that time at the dinner table when he had said..

Well, Seifer had just caught him off guard, that was all. There was nothing more to it, and Leon knew this all too well - he was a man who based his opinions on logic, after all, and the whole situation was just so unlike him; just _so _irrational.

Seifer had caught him off guard and there was nothing else to it. Nothing else to the name his lips had curled around a hundred times before the teen showed up, nothing else to the scar mirrored in the other's familiar face, carved forever into tanned skin that spoke of summer break. Nothing else to the careless and, sometimes, quite rude way of speaking. Nothing else to the same hot-headed and straight-forward spirit he saw behind those stubborn pale orbs.

That was why he was acting strange - he had been surprised is all. Now, he really didn't need to worry. It was clear as a day that this teenager and the Seifer Almasy from his own home town from way, way back had nothing to do with each other. Absolutely nothing. It was all logical; it made _too _much sense.

Maybe he'd been caught off guard, but maybe..

Leon let the hand fall from his face, limply hanging by his side.

Maybe, he just wouldn't let himself believe that Seifer was really dead.

Something was going on. Something was going on and Leon knew it. Something was going on and Leon knew it because everybody was acting strange. Something was going on and Leon knew it because everybody was acting strange and Seifer had dragged Cloud off somewhere to _talk_.

Something was going on and Leon knew it because everybody was acting strange and Seifer had dragged Cloud off somewhere to _talk_ and no one would tell Leon what the _hell _it was that was going on!

Not that he cared. Really, he didn't. The atmosphere was as far from peaceful as possible and it just.. irritated him.

Aerith was setting the table, braid hanging across one tiny shoulder as she smiled politely at Leon who was on the sofa, newspaper in hand. It was strained, though - the muscles around her rosy mouth unusually tense. Hell, even _Aerith_ knew.

"Squally! Haven't I told you a thousand times? Wipe that scowl off of your face!" Yuffie interrupted, the shift on the sofa quite obvious as the ninja sank down onto it, knitted eyebrows inches from Leon's face. "Sure, the 'get-the-hell-away-from-me-or-I-shove-my-Gunblade-down-your-throat-look' suits you and all, but you shouldn't push it!"

"It's Leon", was all he said, the frown increasing tenfold in force as he scooted away from the girl, still thinking that there was hope left for him to finish his reading in peace.

Kairi, who was seated on the couch across from them, just smiled at the persistent ninja pestering the feared leader.

"Hmm, maybe something _happened? _Although I can't imagine what.. hm, hm! What could it be? _Oh! _Is it because Seif is missing?"

Leon promptly slammed the newspaper he had been trying to enjoy mere moments before Yuffie and, along with her, the hellish power of whininess had arrived, down onto the table.

Another day, he might've humored her - might've brushed it off with one of his more mild comments (but no less unemotional), but honestly, he was tired. He was.

Without another word, he rose up and walked towards the stairs. In the hallway he met Cid, a stain of oil covering the front of his white shirt, the man grumbling curses around an unlit cigarette as he asked where Leon was heading.

The brunet didn't answer, he merely proceeded to his own room, immediately discarding his leather jacket and dropping down onto the narrow bed without as much as a second thought, his head heavy and hot and memories spinning too fast for him to really get a good grip on anything; to really see the clearness of full-fledged, vivid images rolling before his eyes.

Stormy grey eyes blinked awake, a cold lump in his gut and something nagging in the back of his head - which, by the way, hurt like a bitch because of the rather awkward position he had accidentally fallen asleep in. To think that he was the man known to stay awake twenty-two hours a day.

The four walls around him and everything inbetween was clad in darkness; the missing windows were probably the culprits.

"If ya wanted the room, you could've just _taken _it", a voice rumbled, unsatisfied.

Leon immediately rose, bringing his right hand forward and, with perfect precision caught hold of a neck, skin hot beneath his fingers.

"H-Hey..! Fuckin'..!" the kind-of-familiar voice wheezed, and Leon had to blink a few times before he was able to make out the sharp outline of a faded, dark-skinned scar. As if burned, he pulled away, hissing quietly under his breath.

"What in the _hell! _I knew you were a bastard, but that was too cheap!" Seifer barked, short hair mussed - probably from the beanie he constantly wore but now seemed to have misplaced somewhere - and icy eyes hard.

Leon shook his head and allowed himself a moment to re-collect himself and will the already-forming headache away.

"Get out", he managed through tight lips.

"This is _my _fucking room!" Seifer protested, calloused hands clenched into fists.

Leon arched a disbelieving eyebrow, his expression most displeased. He let his gaze drift about the room only to realize..

Yeah. He really _had _fallen asleep in the wrong room - hell, how could he even for a _moment _forget the tiny mattress he'd been sleeping on in the same room as Cloud and Cid since the reparation of everybody's houses began?

"I mean, I could've taken the place in your room and whatever. But your dickhead-germs might get me, too."

Leon scowled but pretended not to have heard the mocking statement. He briefly noted that the other bed in the room was empty.

"Where's Hayner?" he muttered lowly, not willing to admit defeat just yet.

"Watching some lameass TV-show with Kairi and Yuffie", Seifer snorted. "Apparently, the old man managed to change the direction of the satellite somehow. It's picked up two whole channels and-", the younger of the two cut himself off and, with slightly widened eyes, turned his head to the side. He seemed to have remembered something.

"Oh."

Silence. And not the good, understanding one, either.

"Look", Seifer huffed, face scrunched up in a frown again, "are you gonna get out or what?"

Something flashed within the depths of the colorless grey in Leon's eyes, but he probably wanted to be in this limited space with Seifer as much as the other did. Giving it up, he stood with the intention to walk out without further meaningless comments.

"Don't even get how you managed to squeeze into the bed", the boy continued in a irritated manner, hand scratching the skin of his stomach where his white tank top had hiked up. "Sure, you look as if you've hit puberty and all but-"

Something snapped inside of the brunet. Something dangerous and forbidden and un_safe _that he had been keeping a lid on for so, so, _so _incredibly long.

("Great. I've got a chicken-wuss and a guy who _just reached puberty in my squad.._")

He knew that he'd regret it later on; knew that he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Knew that this perfect facade of frigid indifferrence was the achievement of all of his hard work during these long years - knew how much the well-kept control meant to him.

What he didn't know was how he could throw it away so easily, and in such a short amount of time.

Spinning around, blood pumping furiously in his head, he took hold of the front of the other's shirt and slammed him into the nearest wall, almost making it crack in the process.

Seifer was stunned, but he quickly got over it and intended to kick the brunet in his stomach, the adrenaline almost visible behind crystal-blue orbs as it burned passionately.

Leon, instead, tossed him across the room, hearing the sharp _thud _of what was probably the blonde's head slamming into the wooden bed. The thug stood - only slightly wobbly - his face dark as he lunged without a second thought.

He managed to punch Leon straight in the face, but Leon was quick to return the favor, knuckles connecting with the blonde's jaw and pushing the other's head upwards before landing a calculated blow to the blonde's solar plexus.

Seifer took hold of both of the Gunblader's broad shoulders and pushed him as hard as he could, the older tumbling into the bedside table which caused the nightlamp to fall down, flickering once before going out. He was there a second later, hovering over the brunet a split second before aiming for his forehead.

Leon caught the fist in mid-air and used it to pull Seifer down instead, headbutting the other as he lost his balance.

And then, with his bruised hand closed around the blonde's shirt, holding him up to get a perfect objective and with a determination so strong it pumped in his chest; he caught sight of the crimson blood slipping from the blonde's nose, of the swelling quality his bruised lips had already taken on, and.. his insides turned cold - then, they turned completely upside down, as if something within him had dropped.

Seifer.. _this _Seifer.. he was just a kid.

This Seifer - it wasn't assertive, loud-mouthed Seifer with that bold smirk tugging at his lips, with those rough hands wielding Hyperion one-handedly to the point where he could fight Leon to a draw; this wasn't the impolite, _raw _Seifer with Fujin and Rajin backing him up, with romantic dreams that he spoke of with such confidence.

This Seifer wasn't _his _Seifer; the man he had loathed, fought, hurt, respected, befriended and fought some more. The man he had..

Instantly, he let go of the thug who, surprised by the motion, landed on the floor. Leon could feel his hand shaking and he quickly closed it into a tight fist, teeth scraping against one another.

He couldn't believe that he had actually allowed himself to lose control like that; to actually hurt some proud brat like he was some-

"Oh my..!" Aerith exclaimed from the door, hand going to cover her pretty little mouth, obviously taken aback by the sight of the two men, panting heavily and probably looking pretty beaten up.

Somewhere behind her, Sora was standing on his tiptoes, trying to catch sight of the scene unfolding before him as Riku stepped in front of him, hand twitching as if resisting the urge to protectively put his pale arm in front of the other boy.

Seifer huffed, looking up at the older male with searing hot eyes, the illuminating blue taking on an almost unnatural shade. True hatred could be shown in the depths of them.

Leon didn't make a single sound as he pressed his palm flat against his face; the skin hot from the fight that had managed to get him quite worked up.

A sharp jab of _plain miserable _shot through the endless darkness that had been surrounding his senses for far too long, just a small flash of the man he once was, a voice trying to reach out in time; before Leon abruptly pushed the feeling akin to pain away into the darkest corner covered in spider-webs and dirt of his carefully selected section of memories and replaced it with the safe facade he was used to displaying.

"Uh, hey, guys.. wh-what's going on?" Sora tried, huge blue eyes hazed over by worry. Riku said nothing, but he observed quietly, not moving away from his place in front of the spiky-haired teen.

Leon tried to ignore the loose threads that had once been grasping onto something inside of him, tried to ignore the feeling of something breaking and pressing uncomfortably against the interior part of his body like it wasn't supposed to be there.

He pushed out of the room, barely even hearing Aerith's troubled voice calling his name, barely even noticing Sora's too-big feat taking a shot at running after him before being stopped by Riku, barely even feeling the silver-haired teen's gaze burn into his back.

He realized, when he had gotten to his own room where Cid was already fast asleep, snoring loudly and almost falling off of his own equally small futon, that he hadn't even cast a single glance backwards to pick up Seifer's expression.

Not that it mattered now, anyway. He just didn't know how to handle it; didn't know how to piece himself together like he was before that troublesome kid decided to show up and, along with him, the memories of a lifetime; all because of a damn _name. _

"It was instinct, wasn't it?" Cloud asked from his position curled up against the wall, back facing Leon. Although the brunet was aware of that the blonde hadn't fallen asleep yet, he still allowed himself a moment to answer.

"I don't see how any of this is your business."

"It might be", Cloud replied with a flat voice. "There might be more to it than it seems."

Leon didn't have time with the sulking blonde's mind games or hypothetical figures of saying, and the image of Seifer dragging Cloud out of the house after the incident by the destroyed parts of the town came back to him.

He gritted his teeth and said nothing, slipping in beneath the thin covers and pressing his forehead against the cool wall.

Leon prayed for a dreamless night.

"Whaaat? I can't believe Squally did that!" Yuffie shrieked, big round eyes focused on the leader of Hollow Bastion's Restoration Committee.

Leon, of course, remained silent; his eyes closed and his arms crossed and his back against the wall and his Gunblade leaning right next to him, pressed up against his side - defensive body-language, even if not anybody might've been able to pick it up.

"Really, though", the ninja continued, eyes cast downwards as her tone dropped to a more serious one, "That's not like you."

Leon insisted with still keeping his lips pressed tightly together, wondering how the hell the jumpy girl had managed to find him in his sacred training place in the small cave, bathing in enchanting green lights cast from the water that flowed in.

"Were you caught off guard?" she wondered, still trying to make eye contact.

Leon was sure his fingers would be digging right through the gloves soon from the pressure.

"Squall, lying to yourself doesn't make it better! Besides, there must've been _something _that triggered it- something you saw in that boy that reminded you of.."

Wild grey eyes snapped open, and his mouth froze in mid-air, opened as if to say something. Slowly, he shut it with a quiet click of the teeth.

"It doesn't matter", he eventually breathed, voice tired. "He's going home today. They all are. It's better that way. It's.. a lot calmer. Quieter. "

And Yuffie didn't even try to stop him aside from giving a pleading look directed at the man's back as he left - _again._

&**&**&

Struggled a lot with this chapter. It took its sweet time too, but hey - it's better than never being updated, right?

Soo, still working on the storyline-thing.. they wouldn't be very in character if they immediately jumped in each others pants, y'know? I'm trying to build the tension up! Oh, the tension will come, believe me! Soon.. ehehe..

I.. don't know what else to say. Thank you so much for all the reviews. I know it's not like, 356 of them, but it's still a lot right? I'm happy for each and every one of them!

Hope you enjoy this chapter.


	7. oo7

**game; **Kingdom Hearts II  
**pairing; **Eventually Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence - it depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

He bit the inside of his cheek, raising a calloused hand slowly towards the door knob in the bedroom he had spent the last nights in, only to pull back, leaving it hanging by his side. And then he repeated the action all over again, just like he had done the last twenty-three times.

His jaw was still visibly sore with a distinct sting to it as he used his muscles to shift it from side to side. Seifer huffed, greatly annoyed by the fact that Leon had actually pried that stick out of his ass and fought him for real last night - and _initiated _the fight, too. Hell, Seifer was the one supposed to do that!

That wasn't the only thing, though. It was the mad look that had possesed the brunet's steel-grey eyes moments before that first punch had been laid that really bothered him, put on constant replay in the blonde's mind.

That look.. it was the same look he had seen on the man in his dream; the man he had later concluded actually _was _the frigid bastard-ass called Leon Leonhart, only younger and.. more lively? He never thought he'd actually see that fighting spirit in the brunet, though - dreams were supposed to stay dreams, after all, and yet..

He couldn't do it. Couldn't just walk away from everything, especially now that he had made such a discovery! The one Sephiroth was looking for seemed to actually be Cloud; gloomy, moody Cloud. They had some sort of connection to each other, something binding them, and it wasn't only the curse of a wing.

Seifer had been talking to the blonde all day yesterday, finding out very little; it made him want to know that much more.

The door opened suddenly, and Seifer realized a bit too late that he was standing in its way. Hayner slammed it full-force into the thug's face, making him stagger back unsteadily.

Hayner regarded him with widened hazel eyes before breaking into a Chesire Cat-grin.

"One word", Seifer pressed out through gritted teeth. "Just _one word _lamer, and even your mother won't recognize you."

The threat was taking seriously, but only because the blonde seemed frustrated enough to do it. It didn't stop Hayner from keep grinning, though.

"We're taking off in like, an hour. So get your ass down there and have some of the breakfast Aerith made!" Hayner demanded.

"I'm not hungry", Seifer spat darkly.

"Look, Aerith wants you to come down, so just do it, all right?" he scoffed. "What were you doing standing by the door, anyway?"

"None of your damned business", the thug grunted, pushing the other out of his way with a broad shoulder while walking towards the stairs, completely ignoring the muttered curses behind him.

"Good morning, Seifer! Did you sleep well?" Aerith's soothing voice met him as he entered the kitchen, the pleasant scent of coffee and waffles surrounding him.

"Yeah", he answered, recalling last night's little brawl. The others were doing a fine job acting as if nothing had happened, although they all probably knew by now.

Come to think of it, everyone was there; Kairi was packing in the living room with the help of Yuffie, the two girls chatting about something with their heads close together. Cid was sitting by the kitchen table and reading the newspaper while talking to Aerith, who was doing the dishes. Hayner was just passing through the doorway, rolling his neck while advancing towards the TV. Cloud was sitting in a small couch looking out of place and doing nothing in particular.

Leon, though.. Leon was nowhere to be seen.

Now, Seifer didn't really _want _to ask - hell, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to _know. _What he did want to do, though, was getting some answers out of Cloud.

The blonde seemed to have been hiding some kind of mind-reading ability from them all, because at that very moment, Cloud looked up and pierced him with his inhuman eyes.

Seifer stared at him, hoping to get the message across. Cloud, however, didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, because the hint of a very small, but nonetheless smug smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.

"Leon's gone out", he said, in a by-the-way-tone, the statement aimed directly at Seifer, who felt a familiar anger bubble up inside of him out of pure reflex.

"Who the hell asked!"

"Oh, you wanted to know, Seif?" Yuffie cut in. "Come to think of it, I found Leon earlier.. he went somewhere at like, five in the morning and hasn't been back since! But I did talk to him.. he was doing some training. Seemed like he wanted to be alone, though", the ninja shrugged, looking as if she couldn't possibly understand why the solemn man would want that.

"I don't care", Seifer bit out as nicely as he could, fist clenching.

"Such a shame, though", Aerith's feather-like voice entered the conversation. "I'm sure Leon would have wanted to say goodbye.. but he simply won't listen to me if I go and try to bring him back."

Seifer didn't say anything, leveling his gaze on the wall in front of him and pretending that he didn't damn well know she was implying something.

"I would be very sad to see you guys leave knowing that Leon is in a condition like that", she continued, tilting her head to the side. "He probably feels bad about it, too. He probably thinks he's embarrassed himself."

_It's the puberty-boy's own damn fault, _Seifer thought broodily, not wanting to say anything that might upset Aerith - consciously or not, he had taken a liking to the girl, and he certainly wouldn't want to see her sad. Not that he'd ever admit that.

"Haha, you really think so, Aerith? It is _Leon _we're ta-"

Kairi was quick enough to jab Yuffie's side with a bony elbow, causing the ninja to moan in protest, obviously displeased.

"Maybe", Aerith spoke softly, her eyes lighting up as if remembering something, "you could go find him?"

Trying (and probably failing) to look careless, the thug clenched his still-hurting jaw and refused to believe that she was actually suggesting that _he _should be the one doing it.

"Perhaps he would listen to you, since you were the only one present during the.. incident last night", Aerith continued. "Hm, Seifer?"

Fuck, and now he couldn't even pretend that he didn't understand they were all looking at him. Snapping his eyes to the side, he regarded the girl for a moment filled with the almost-suffocating fury that was slowly eating him inside and out.

"That guy is none of my business", he eventually said. "I don't care for him at all, and I'm sure as _hell _not running after him."

The following silence was close to numbing, but Seifer stood firm, not wanting the conversation to go any further - other people's business had, in his life, always stayed other people's business - unless it somehow became his business, that is.

Although he did _not _plan on making Leon's problems his, simply because it was _Leon, _after all.

Aerith looked kind of.. hurt, he supposed, since he wasn't really able to place the correct emotion crowding the girl's petite face. He'd never been good at reading other people's feelings, but he guessed that was as far as he could go. Her eyebrows were drawn together and her eyes weren't angry or even narrowed, just.. disappointed.

She said nothing. Neither did he.

"Aw, just go already, dipshit!" Hayner interrupted, craning his neck as if to crack it.

Seifer felt a flare of fury at that, but he stayed calm.

"No", he simply said.

"Why can't you just take a little responsibility? We're all going home today and it'll make us all nervous if this pissed-off tension is in the air. You go fix what you started!"

Seifer was quiet for a long moment before finally turning just the irises of his ice-blue eyes to the fuming form of the blonde boy.

"Tough words for a shrimp like you, but I think it's time you shut the hell up now", he growled, obviously not in the mood, "I don't really care at all how nervous anyone'll get as long as I'm not involved. And for your information, I didn't start nothing, it was all that goddamn puberty-boy's fault!"

"Hey, look you big, ignorant-"

"_I said shut the hell up_!" the muscular blonde snapped, slamming his fist onto the table. He didn't like it one bit, but something was opening up inside of him, something he didn't really have the energy to stop - then again, perhaps he didn't need to at all.

If he thought the silence before was bad, he reckoned that this one was almost deafening. He got up slowly, chair squeaking as it was pushed backwards, and trained his burning gaze on the floor.

He felt kind of ashamed for losing control like this, being the always-composed crew leader and all - in a house full of strangers, nonetheless! But he couldn't say he was sorry. No matter how much he wanted to, the words burned and got stuck in his much too dry throat. It just wasn't in his vocabulary - wasn't his style, wasn't something he was used to.

"I can't-", he pressed out, eyes closing in frustration. He refused to be humiliated like this. "Don't come after me", he offered instead, leaving with rushed steps as if to not do something he'd later regret; ignoring Kairi's calculating look, ignoring Aerith's disappointed gaze, ignoring Cloud's cold stare.

Seifer heard Yuffie's voice just as the front door was kicked shut, the sunlight way too bright for his eyes that had since long gotten used to twilight.

"You know, it's been over three hours.." Yuffie began, chestnut eyes sparkling with not very well-hidden double meaning.

"It has", Kairi agreed, eyeing the Keyblade master that was currently sprawled out on the worn-out couch, legs crossed at the ankle and resting across Riku's lap. Sora shifted his gaze to her inquiring one, raising an eyebrow.

"I can't believe this!" Hayner snorted, hands clenching into fists that he raised in the air. "Why are we letting that wannabe-thug delay our trip home? It's too much, man!"

"We can't go without him", Sora protested, face scrunched up, "but it _is _inconvenient."

"To say the least!" Hayner spat, unsatisfied.

"Boys, instead of hanging around here, why don't we go find him?" Kairi suggested, twirling loose strands of maroon hair around slim fingers.

The three males exchanged equal looks of mutual understanding before looking at the girl as if she had said something incredibly stupid.

"We can't do _that_", Sora insisted.

"They're probably sorting things out", Riku explained.

"Still sucks though.." Hayner added, as an afterthought.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Yuffie piped up, bouncing on the spot where she sat on the carpet, excited as if hearing a story. "You think Seifer actually found Leon? You think they're solving their weird hostility, man to man?"

"Something like that", Riku's voice came.

"Leon's probably kicking Seifer's ass", Hayner sniggered.

"Aw, you guys! It'll be fine. It would be rude to interrupt, though."

"Yeah, Sor, since you're so polite-"

"Whatever, Riku!"

"I brought a snack for you guys", Aerith smoothly cut in, entering with a tray of cookies in her hands. The boys cheered while Kairi giggled. Yuffie was already halfway to jumping the sweets.

"Oh, by the way", she continued, "have you seen Cloud somewhere?"

Aerith was met with silence.

"He's gone _too_?" Hayner whined, face dropping when the girl nodded. "Aw, man! It just can't be true! I can't believe this! I can't-"

Kairi sighed and leaned backwards on her hands, deciding to leave things be.

* * *

Leon was still training, even what had to be hours after Yuffie had found him that morning. His body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, glistening against tanned skin that stuck to the simple white tank top he wore. The leather jacket had since long been discarded, thrown carelessly in a corner of the cave.

He raised his Gunblade yet again, the only sound being his breath as it was forced out of his nostrils, and the quiet _drip-drop _of water falling from the roof of the cave illuminated by a strange green light that bounced off of the rocks and the narrow strings of water along the floor.

Performing a few sword technices with practised ease, he focused on his footwork and the speed of his movements.

He was at peace, even with all the exhaustion tugging at his foggy mind and the underlying rush of adrenaline in his veins. Left foot, right foot, left left-

Another sound entered the serene scene, and without missing a beat, Leon turned smoothly and aimed his weapon at the intruder.

Seifer watched him, bleach-blue eyes unimpressed even with the tip of the sword against his throat.

Leon's eyes widened before narrowing dangerously. Neither spoke. Eventually, the swordsman had to break the silence.

"What are you doing here?" he asked lowly, as if not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that now seemed more like a faded memory. He didn't move an inch away from his position with Lion Heart resting against the skin of the other boy's throat.

"Looking for your sorry puberty-ass", the blonde replied effortlessly.

Leon suppressed the violent shudder that should've shook his entire being merely by well-trained will.

"Leave", he hissed.

"I won't", the blonde spat. "The others have been whining to me all day about your fucking mood-swings. I don't care, all right? You're coming back with me and you're gonna be damn happy about it, too!"

Leon couldn't help the slight sneer that threatened to sweep across his lips out of sheer familiarity.

"You think so? Perhaps you shouldn't have came unarmed, then. You're at disadvantage here without a weapon", he spoke, actually pleased by that fact.

Seifer smirked, and Leon felt an odd surge in his gut at that. The blonde casually leaned forward, closer to the brunet and therefore closer to the Gunblade aimed at him, too, the whisper of steel from before now turning into the weight of an actual pressure against his skin.

Leon watched without knowing what to make of it.

"You forgot", Seifer finally huffed, "that I _am _a weapon."

The brunet couldn't help but bring his eyebrows lower, regarding the boy in silence. The younger closed his eyes, long lashes brushing roughed up skin, the smirk still ever-evident.

"Although if you were a _real _man", he drawled, the 'and not a simple puberty-boy' was only implied by the blonde's tone, "you'd fight me fair and square, hand-to-hand."

Leon actually considered this for a brief moment, but the answer was much too obvious. He could feel the walls shielding him hardening as he recalled last night's realizations. Something dark came over his face.

"Never", he murmured, eyes still locked with the thugs, but Gunblade quickly drawn back as if the blonde's words were something scorning hot. "I will never fight you again."

"Oh yeah?" Seifer inquired. "But I wouldn't call last night a fight, would you? We didn't even have a chance to start it, really, and as far as I remember, you played way too dirty for a pretty-boy", he continued, rolling his neck nonchalantly and testing his jaw by pressing his teeth together.

"I have no time for your useless remarks. If you have nothing of importance to tell me, leave."

That seemed to finally hit a button, because the blonde's eyes flared up with something indisguisable before he pressed it back, mouth half-open as if to say something.

"You're scared", Seifer finally concluded.

"That was probably the most stupid thing you could've said", Leon replied, finally letting the tip of his Gunblade hit the ground, fingers never loosening around the trigger, though.

"Why won't you fight me? Isn't that the reason for all of this? Don't you want to take out some of that pent-up frustration? 'Cause believe me, you piss me off, too - probably more than I do you."

"I will not fight you and that's that", the brunet said with finality, ignoring the images of Seifer's bloody nose and the fragile humanity he could feel beneath the fingers that caused a _child _those injuries. Because of some stupid ideas and a whole lot of imagination that plauged him - the lack of sleep probably had something to do with it, too.

Nonsense. His thoughts lately were all nonsense.

"Then how do we solve this?" Seifer finally barked, hands thrown out at his sides. "Don't you dare pretend that last night doesn't have anything to do with your mystical disappearance!"

Leon frowned, lips pressed together and his headache only growing. He bit the inside of his cheek and turned around without another word, fixing his gloves.

"Oh, hell no!" Seifer exclaimed, rushing over to the brunet and grabbing him by a shoulder. Leon instantly felt a pang of electricity at the unfamiliar touch, itching to get that hand away. He just didn't do human contact.

Without a thought, he spinned and caught the wrist between his own fingers, clenching hard. Seifer didn't change his facial expression at all, but the brunet knew it had to hurt. He applied some extra pressure just to make sure, though.

"God, I don't get you, puberty-boy", Seifer then snorted, shaking his head. "Just make up your damn mind and don't be so stuck-up."

"Weren't you supposed to be home already?" Leon changed the subject effectively.

"I was, but as I said before, they kept bugging me about-"

"I don't care. Leave."

The blonde was awfully stubborn - Leon swore he could feel bones grinding together beneath the vice grip his own hand had on his hot skin.

"I won't", Seifer said firmly.

That sure got his attention. He didn't ask anything, but his fingers practically started to shake from anger. Eventually, the blonde got the hint.

"I won't leave", he repeated. "Let them leave without me. I'm staying. I have to."

Leon had to take a few moments to collect himself, although he didn't show it on the outside.

"And why is that?"

The thug looked away for the first time, wiggling his fingers a little beneath the brunet's grip, realizing it was useless to waste his energy on trying to get away. "I have stuff to do. None of your business."

A million thoughts went through Leon's mind, none of them logically connected to what Seifer could possibly mean. What was it with this teenager that seemed to tick him off in just the very way he had been able to keep a lid on for so long? And what was going on between him and Cloud? They were talking so much yesterday when claiming to not even know each other, and concerning the other strange events-

"Right", Leon said. "It's not. Keep it that way." With that, he released Seifer's reddened hand and watched the thug pull a face, clenching and unclenching his hand.

He turned his back to the younger male while retrieving his jacket. Placing his all-time weapon on the floor, he began to slip the garment on.

He didn't even notice it until he heard the metallic clang echo through the air, and he couldn't believe how incredibly stupid he had been.

Seifer had Lion Heart, Squall's own weapon, pressed against the surface of the man's neck. The brunet was forced to stay in the same position, back to the blonde and jacket halfway on. Anger boiled within him, and although he was sure that Seifer wouldn't inflict any real danger on him, it was still unnerving to know that he had such an unskilled armature that did not even know how to use the full potential of a blade as powerful as this one aiming his own weapon at him.

"Who's unarmed now, huh?" Leon could hear the smirk, the smugness in that voice.

"You wouldn't know how to hurt me even if you wanted to", the brunet replied, refusing to budge an inch or tense up even the slightest - he would not show any indication of how that itching feeling from before told him to just rip his blade back, and preferrably Seifer's hand with it, too.

"I know how to slash right through you with this", Seifer drawled, lazily drawing circles through the mess of chestnut hair, tip tickling the skin of the brunet's neck in an altogether unpleasant way. Leon had to hold back a shudder. The man slowly turned, glare in place like always, gloved hand grasping around the sword.

"Give it back to me. It is shameful for a low-class fighter like you to even hold this. I'm not in the mood for games."

"Obviously not", Seifer snorted. "Low-class, my ass. You'd be surprised."

"I'm sure I would, Almasy."

Their gazes stayed locked, stormy grey and frigid blue, not really knowing if they had worked anything out or just made it worse. Then Leon simply drew forward, grasping the hilt of his weapon and turning it. One last look was thrown over his leather-clad shoulder before he left with drawn-out steps like always.

He didn't turn to catch sight of Seifer grasping the side of his head suddenly, bulky form sagging and quivering in pain as he sank to the ground.

* * *

Um.. Hi? Yeah, so, it's been ages since I updated (well, three months, but y'know) and I feel bad about it, especially with all the new reviews I've been getting that I'm incredibly happy for, of course - but I've had so much to do!

Well, here's the newest chapter, though. Still haven't gotten into the ACTUAL story. You think you got a clue, huh? You do, don't you? YOU DON'T!~

(neither do I).

Hope you enjoy it, at least, although it's kind of sloppy with all the POV-changes and all.. heh. Yes. I'm getting rusty.


	8. oo8

**game; **Kingdom Hearts (II)  
**pairing; **eventual Leon/Seifer  
**warnings; **language, shonen-ai & perhaps yaoi, violence; it all depends on how the story evolves.  
**disclaimer; **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used.

&**&**&

When he came to, he realized that something wet was trailing down his face.

_Blood? _Seifer thought, but instantly changed his mind - it was too liquid-like, not nearly as thick. He concluded it was water, and as his vision cleared, he was met with the sight of a stone-roof, shielded in an illuminating green mist. A cave.

A familiar cave. A cave in which he had fought Leonhart, _again, _and then.. what _had _happened after that? He remembered pain. A blinding kind of pain that shot throughout his entire body, and the clouded images of dust-covered dreams nestling themselves into his mind.

He shook it off, meaning to stand. He wondered how long he had been out. There was not a soul in sight, which meant Leon had left completely, the silent drip-drop of water beads falling from the cave-roof being the only sound audible.

He found that he wasn't really that dizzy anymore, and made to exit the cave, a strange, detached feeling in the pit of his stomach.

As if on a cue, a silver-lined shadow swept across the wall, the instant panic that followed making Seifer's blood rush hurriedly as he clenched his fists.

"Long time no see", a voice purred, dead-serious.

Seifer would have moved, had he not had the tip of a sword aimed directly at his gut.

And he was unarmed. Great.

"Sephiroth", he bit out nonetheless, not doing much of hiding the disgust in his voice. He refused to be threatened by the man, though - and if he was, he at least refused to show it.

"Although it would be absolutely _lovely _to", Sephiroth smirked lazily, "I can't stay too long. So I'll just ask you to pass on a message to my dear.. acquintance."

"Who? Cloud?" Seifer stressed.

"That is correct", the silver-haired man replied, and the glint in his eyes turned dangerous. "Tell him this; there's not much time left, and soon, he'll simply have to make up his mind. Can you do that for me?"

It wasn't really a question, so Seifer didn't answer - instead, he glared at the man with as much hatred as he could muster.

Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow, amused if his smirk was anything to go by, but sincerity failing to reach his eyes. He was gone in a flash, a coal-black wing floating to the ground.

Seifer stared at it for a very long time before moving again.

&**&**&

"What do you mean 'you're staying'?" Hayner cried in disbelief, halting in his tracks towards the departure-place they had picked out.

"Exactly what I said, shrimp."

All eyes were focused on the thug's calm form, eyes widened in surprise - except for Leon, who had already heard this, and Cloud, who merely peeked at him in interest from across the news paper before adverting his gaze again.

"Uh, Seifer, don't get me wrong, but.. you're the one who's been wanting to go home ever since we arrived", Sora cut in, "I mean, you didn't really seem that much into going in the first place.."

"Yeah. Something came up, though, so I'll just have to stick around a while longer."

"Well.. we were thinking of coming back after me, Kairi and Riku have visited two more worlds that are in current danger because of the Heartless. We'll have the Gummi Ship with us then, so you could tag along after that."

"All right, then", Seifer decided. "I'll just have to find a place to stay while I'm here. Shouldn't be that hard now that the Heartless are pretty much gone and we can actually be on the outside of this cellar."

"Oh, Seifer, we'll provide you with sleeping-space, of course! Me and Yuffie share a flat, and Cloud's recently became Cid's room-mate, but Leon actually has a house for himself", Aerith piped up, apparently pleased with the direction this was going. "You'll take him in, Leon, won't you?"

It was hard to resist the open encouragement in those glittering green eyes - Leon switched his gaze to Seifer's glaring face not to be lured into the foolishness. If the damn kid wanted to stay, he could, but Leon hadn't exactly volunteered for taking stubborn brats in, and-

"There's no way I'm staying with that bastard", Seifer proclaimed firmly.

"Oh, Seif! Don't be like that! Leon's nice when he's not so grumpy - besides, you'd have the entire second floor to yourself!" Yuffie chimed.

The blonde scowled in frustration, but he managed to catch Kairi's gaze over the bubbly ninja's head, and the redhead nodded, urging him on.

"Whatever", he eventually breathed, each word reeking of sour bitterness. "It'll be fine."

Leon wanted to protest, say that it definitely would _not _'be fine', but realized quickly that he was the adult here, and that the presence of a thug-like teenager shouldn't bother him quite as much as it did - so he remained silent, thinking that he could easily endure this if he treated the boy for what he was; a child.

A child with strange and achingly familiar manners and personality-flips, a child that was good at bringing forth the sides of the Gunblade-wielder which he had thought were buried since long..

"Good luck, then!" Sora cheered. "To all of you! We'll see you soon. Until then, take care!"

Kairi hugged Aerith and Yuffie tightly, promising to call from the ship, and she waved, smiling at the others. Riku nodded to each and every one of them, and Hayner threw a 'see ya!' over his shoulder with a cheeky grin, before catching Seifer's gaze and then retreating into the waiting ship.

Soon, they were all inside of the very thing that had brought them here in the first place, except that this time Seifer stayed on the line of the unknown instead of travelling back to places he knew were safe and routine-infected.

He did not know why he didn't just go home, to be frank. It _could _be called gut feeling, but he wasn't sure he was superstitious enough to believe that.

"All right then. I'll go back and clean up the rest in the hidden base", Aerith announced, squeezing Seifer's shoulder as she passed. "You should get installed in your room."

"I'll help you clean!" Yuffie suggested, sending a wink to the beanie-wearing boy before dancing after Aerith.

"Huh, 's kinda unusual of ya to stay, kid", Cid told him, fumbling to find his packet of smokes.

"Not at all - I've got stuff to take care of", Seifer said, with a meaningful glance in Cloud's direction. The spiky-haired male pretended not to notice.

"Well, ya gotta' do watcha' gotta' do. Imma' head back to th' flat. See ya around."

As the man trudged away, Seifer raised an eyebrow at the blond - he did a good job of ignoring Leon who was standing right next to him.

"What?" Cloud inquired.

"I have a message for you", he revealed. "A _greeting,_ you could call it, from a.. friend."

Cloud's eyes lit up for a minimal second.

"..Hn. Tell me later."

And he turned to leave, just like that. Seifer rolled his eyes.

"So. Let's go." Leon said unceremoniously, giving the single training bag thrown across the blonde's broad shoulder a once-over before walking ahead towards.. wherever his house was. The blonde didn't notice the slight twitch of his hands, though - didn't notice the mental dialogue the brunet was engaged in; obviously, Leon sensed something lurking beneath the sudden acquintance Seifer had made with Cloud, but he couldn't put his finger on it, and he couldn't very well ask, either - it was none of his business, after all. It was much too irritating.

Seifer followed the man, eyebrows furrowed, deciding not to think about the fact that he was to spend even more time beneath the same roof as Leon.

&**&**&

The room was nice - wooden floor and lilac walls. The bed was kind of small, but at least it looked more comfortable than the last one he'd had. Seifer threw his bag on the ground before sinking down on the bed he was to sleep on from now on, feeling as if he could actually take a nap right now..

Maybe not. He heard firm footsteps approach the room.

"You'll need these", the brunet offered, placing an armful of sheets and covers on the nearby desk before turning to leave briskly.

"Whatever, puberty-boy", Seifer drawled, the nickname coming out of reflex by now, "I don't like this any more than you do. In fact, I'd be happy if we didn't really talk at all during my stay here. I'm only doing this because I have serious matters to take care of here."

"Sure", Leon answered, voice emotionless.

"_Stop that_!" Seifer growled before he could help himself.

"..What?" the brunet asked in a tone that indicated he was not up for whatever the thug had to say.

"You're always so damn _cold_! Like you're so tough! You're not as emotionless as you force yourself to be, so stop it already! It drives me nuts and yet you keep doing it, always!"

Leon's gaze hardened.

"How would _you _know how I 'always' am, Almasy?"

Seifer flinched, barely visible, at the sound of his last name. How would he?

"Look, there's.. there's something strange going on", he tried instead, ignoring the throbbing feeling in his head. "Ever since I came. It just.. I have to figure it out, it's something important, I know it is. And _you.. _you're so.."

Leon sharply turned his head at that, frowning.

"Hey, bastard.." Seifer got up from the bed and stepped towards the man, pale eyes swimming with anger and confusion. "Why _is _this happening to me? Do you know anything about it?"

Leon refused to answer, but he adjusted his head again so that he could glare back at the teen.

"Hey.. puberty-boy.." Seifer suddenly muttered, eyebrows drawn low as his eyes danced about the taller man's face, "tell me about how you got that scar." Almost as if in a trance (Seifer reasoned that it was the only logical explanation for his behaviour) he raised rough fingers, inches away from tracing the tanned skin of the other's forehead..

It went too fast for him to read anything in the brunet's features at all, because next thing he knew, Leon had smacked the hand away and was out the door.

He could have _sworn, _though - if it was not his lately _very _vivid imagination playing tricks on him - that for a split second, the purest of terror was laced within that tumult of stormy grey.

&**&**&

"You know something, don't you?" Leon asked as soon as he stepped through the door, not even bothering with polite greetings and such.

Cloud blinked back at him, unfazed, from the couch he was seated in.

"..About?"

"That damn kid. There's something going on, am I right? Something that has to do with the two of you.."

"Not really", Cloud replied in a flat voice. "He just think he's come across something he wasn't supposed to get involved with in the first place. He doesn't know very much, though.."

"And this 'something', is it a threat to the city?"

Cloud smirked faintly at that, but there was no smugness or humor behind it.

"Definitely. A deadly threat, actually. If it chooses to be."

"And you have not told me this _because_..?" Leon spat, managing to sound one hundred percent terrifying despite the impossibly low monotone.

"This is _my _battle", the blonde replied easily.

"It's not if it's getting other people involved!"

"They aren't _meant _to get involved.."

"Strife, if you think that I'm going to just sit here, not knowing anything, just watching as-"

"Hold on. Look. It's hard to explain. You remember the night I first came to Hollow Bastion, right?"

"I do. Probably better than you", Leon snorted.

"Right. You were the one that found me all bloody and covered in wounds. Do you know why?"

The brunet didn't answer.

"I had just experienced the fight of my life. And it's still not over. Sometimes I think it's eternal, but I don't want to believe that - one day, I'll make it all stop."

Leon continued with just staring at the blonde in an expressionless way.

"I have a nemesis, I guess - it's my personal darkness, the memory of a demon that's lingered for so long it's become almost-reality. And I have to destroy it, just as I have to destroy the part of me that brings it back."

&**&**&

"..Really? _That's _it?" Seifer inquired, lifting an eyebrow.

Cloud nodded in response.

It had taken the crew-leader at least three hours until he had been able to seek the other out, walking aimlessly around in the middle of town, of all places - and this time, Cloud actually seemed quite willing to let him in on some actual information. Especially after Seifer delivered Sephiroth's formal-clad warning; Cloud's jaw had clenched tightly, breathing ragged - it was the closest to concrete emotion the thug had ever seen the other man display.

"Oh. So, he's here now and looking for you. And you're actually going to meet him, because..?"

"It cannot go on like this. He'll keep coming back no matter what I do. I have to put an end to him."

Seifer did think that Cloud looked pretty dangerous with that huge-ass sword and the kind of silent-but-deadly aura that clung to him, but _Sephiroth? _Hell, Seifer had seen him two times in his life and none of them had included any serious fighting, but he was no less sure that the man was capable of turning the blonde spiky-haired warrior into a pile of ash if he so wished.

"You're an idiot", Seifer eventually settled, ignoring the narrowing of bright blue eyes. "You could never win against him, especially not alone."

"I won't be alone, though - not as long as I keep my light with me."

"You're weird, you know. A little light isn't gonna' help you get anywhere", he snorted.

"I've told you what you wanted to know. I don't really think I owe you anything more than that, Seifer. And it would be wise if you stayed out of Sephiroth's way from now on", the blonde said, spitting the name of his enemy like it was a curse.

"Hey, he's the one coming after _me_, picking fights all the time!"

"Yes. So please do not behave irrationally."

Seifer wanted to ask what he meant by that, but the blonde turned his gaze towards the ground again - it was quite ironic that he had not moved an inch ever since teen had found him, back resting against a wall and arms crossed at his chest - and closed his stark blue eyes, indicating that the conversation was over.

Seifer huffed grumpily before stomping off, vowing to himself that he would find out more about Cloud's constant battle with the silver-haired warrior. And if it was only Cloud the man wanted, why did he lurk around town like a predator mapping out his territory? Why did he go through Seifer to reach the blonde man, instead of finding him personally? It certainly wouldn't be hard for him to.

For the rest of the day, he remained lost in thoughts.

&**&**&

When evening approached, Seifer took it upon himself to get some food into his system. He had noticed Leon's eating habits were less than normal; as far as he was concerned, the brunet had not eaten once today, while working non-stop. It definitely wasn't healthy.

..Not that Seifer cared. But if there was one thing he could not be without, it was food! Which was, admittedly, quite logical. But he never really got chicks who squealed about new diets or workaholics who forced a sandwich down at eight in the morning and then lived on coffee for the rest of the day.

Many would be surprised to find out that he was actually capable of more than just boiling water or pouring up some cereal in the kitchen. He wasn't some master cook, but he got around just fine. Living alone did that to you.

Truth be told, he didn't understand how stupid puberty-boy had survived up until now. But he supposed Aerith cooked for him every once in a while. Finally, the truth behind his skinniness.

(All right, Leon wasn't skinny at all - his body was just more lean than bulky, but _very _developed indeed with broad shoulders and powerful legs).

Seifer ate the noodle soup and slices of bread (the only edible things he had found in the brunet's kitchen that weren't past the expiration date) in silence, which was a nice change - after a while, he realized he may have overdone it a bit, even for himself; he usually cooked a _lot, _knowing that there was a part of him that was _always _hungry enough to fit more in. Today, though, he didn't really feel like eating.

First, he thought about throwing the remains away, but he thought it kind of dumb to waste food. Maybe he'd just eat it in the morning or something.

..But then again, leaving it on the kitchen counter or in the fridge would make it look like he made an extra portion for Leon or something, which irked him to no end.

He actually stood for five and a half minute, debating with himself, before he finally muttered, "_screw it_" and placed the plasticized plate on the dining table, thinking that puberty-boy was up for a surprise when he came home.

Seifer amused himself by thinking of Leon's reaction; if luck was on his side, the man would perhaps think that the blonde had poisoned the leftovers. And he'd be outraged at Seifer for cooking the last of his food. Hopefully he'd be really hungry, too, argumenting with himself whether it would be a good idea or not to eat it.

Seifer had to chuckle in slight malice at that. He retreated to his room for the night.

&**&**&

Leon startled awake, sweat clinging to his nude upper body. He looked around the familiar and simply decorated room, just as the crack of electricity sparked across the night-sky and momentarily lit up the room.

The brunet assumed that a storm was approaching, and that the violent thunder and the sound of splattering rain against his bedroom window were the reasons for his awakening. He felt strange, though, as if brought to reality after a very bad dream; breathing pattern uneven, his body hot and trembling, throat dry and scratchy, his hair damp with stray strands sticking to his neck.

The symptoms of a nightmare indeed, except that he couldn't remember having any.

Just as he was about to get up, head still swimming in half-awareness, an intense roar resounded.

"_Squall!_"

His insides froze to blistering ice for approximately a third of a second, before instincts kicked in and he rushed out of the room, grabbing his Gunblade by the bed out of pure reflex.

Obviously, he had something else to blame for serving as an most unreasonable alarm clock.

"Nn-_no_! Don't.. _Goddamn _it!"

Leon recognized the voice by now, and he swiftly ran up the stairs, footsteps light. He kicked the first door to the right open, hand tightening around the hilt of his revolver-

Only to realize that Seifer was alone, trashing about wildly in bed. The window was open and slamming against the house wall on the outside each time a violent push of the wind ensued, the splashing of rain drops almost deafening.

"Squall, Squall, _Squall_!"

Leon dropped the sword, terrified, back hitting the wall behind him in his attempt to bolt.

Seifer was _dreaming. _

Dreaming about.. it couldn't_ be_.

Terror held him on the spot, but then, Leon changed his plans, able to think more clearly. He slowly walked up to the bed, unsure, even as the teen continued to twist and turn, sheets winding around his toned body. The look on his face was painful and very tense, mouth opened in a half-shout.

He extended a hand and took hold of the boy's shoulder to shake him firmly, once.

The reaction was not expected; Seifer instantly caught hold of the brunet's wrist, eyes darting open, wild and unfocused.

He didn't say anything; Leon wasn't even sure he noticed him standing there, since his intense pale eyes were staring right through the concrete roof it seemed. His breaths, however, were coming out in rough whiffs.

Then, something seemed to click, and he came back to his senses. Seifer flickered his gaze to the older man's.

Leon noticed he looked younger without his beanie on.

"What the hell are you doing in my room, old man?" the blonde spat, unclenching his fingers around Leon's wrist in disgust.

"You-" Leon couldn't form a word, watching the thug with hard eyes.

"_What? _Why are you here?" he demanded, sitting up. The blanket covering him slipped, revealing a muscled chest and a cross-necklace hanging loosely against it.

The brunet frowned.

"You were throwing a fit in your sleep."

Seifer's cheeks seemed to uncharacteristically flush at that, albeit it was hard to tell in the dark.

"So _what_? That gives you the right to barge into my room?"

"I misunderstood", the older of the two muttered. The questions in his head died before they even had the chance to set a route towards his tongue.

"I don't remember dreaming anything, though", Seifer mumbled, more to himself really.

Leon turned to leave.

"A storm's coming up. You should close the window", was all he offered. The door clicked shut.

The storm outside was nothing compared to the one his insides were engaging in, and Leon predicted the remaining hours of the night would be sleepless indeed.

Wow, five months, huh? It's gone by in a flash, right? Hehe.. Okay, I must apologize for the sucky update, but believe me, I really wanted to do it as quick as possible! I just didn't have any inspiration _at all. _I think I've found it again though, at least concerning this particular pairing - today I realized why I love them again, which I'll be sure to show in the following chapters.

And I was also abroad for two months during the summer, so I really had a whole lot of other stuff to think about. Stay tuned, though, I think I'll be able to deliver a few more chapters before the inspiration-drought comes back.

It may not seem like much now, but I have ideas, trust me! :D

Oh yeah. The other chapters I've posted up until now may have gotten a little weird. I don't know why, though. Where there's supposed to be a paragraph break, there's not, and some of the text has magically changed into cursive. I tried to fix it for like, two hours but eventually gave up 'cause I got frustrated enough to throw my computer out the window, haha. Just so you know!

I hope you enjoy this.


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